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Book_ . ! -> 1 _ 

Copyright N°__ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 


< 







THE 

HOME AND CHURCH 
TITHING 


By 

REV. JAS. T. GASKILL 


*> * > 

1 * 

MJ 


1923 

A. B. Caldwell Publishing Company 

Atlanta, Ga 





Copyright, 1923 
KEY. JAMES T. GASKILL 


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JUL 23 ’23 


©C1A752135 
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CONTENTS. 


Another Example of Tithing in Business_ 37 

Another Tithing Witness_22 

Another Tithing Testimony _29 

Faithfulness and Tithing Bring Prosperity_40 

Failure to Teach Tithing Brings God’s Displeasure_49 

Great Need of Funds to Help Civilize and Christianize the 
World _51 

Heathen Countries Exploited_55 

How to Teach Tithing_70 

Let Us Trust and Prove the Lord_17 

Mr. Wannamaker as a Witness_,_26 

Need of Co-operation in Christian Education_65 

Place for Tithing in Experience_34 

Remedy for Industrial Unrest_100 

Scriptural Exhortations to Tithing_47 

Symmetrical Education_78 

Symmetrical Education, Continued_ 81 

Testimony _44 

The Largest Unoccupied Field __58 

The Tither’s Pledge_^_73 

Tithing Method_14 

Tithing a Necessity in Home and Church_85 

What is the Matter With America?_90 

What Is the Matter With America? Continued-95 

Who Was Melchizedek? _67 

World Conditions, Program of God’s Kingdom Rejected-62 




























THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE 


No system of tithing has ever been popular 
among the masses. And the cause for the un¬ 
popularity of tithing or giving to the Lord what 
really belongs to Him, (a consecrated heart and 
life, and one-tenth of all the income) is the lack 
of being properly trained. The Bible, and re¬ 
ligious text-books, should have their proper 
places in the homes, in the curricula of schools, 
colleges and universities for the training of all 
the faculties of the “living soul," side by side 
with the sciences, languages and other studies 
laid down for training the intellect. And this 
system of education should be hereditary, and 
continued through life, for one writer has said: 
“The whole universe is a school, and from the 
cradle to the grave we are scholars." This 
would give us a symmetrical or evenly 
balanced system of education—drawing out ail 
the powers of man, giving equally as much at¬ 
tention and culture to the spiritual as to the in¬ 
tellectual. When this system of education shall 
have been established, it will be an easy matter 
to train men to love the Lord with all their 
heart, soul and strength, and their neighbors as 
themselves. No one thus trained could ever be 
induced to dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ, be¬ 
fore all nations assembled in a World Confer¬ 
ence, by failing to invoke the blessings of peace 
from God the Father, through Jesus Christ our 


10 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


Lord. “Tithing” and the “Golden Rule” will be 
no longer looked upon as mountains too high to 
ascend^ or difficultes too great to be overcome; 
but will be observed with as much grace and 
dignity as any other command of our Lord and 
Master. 

The Author has dedicated this little book to 
the cause of Christian development; and it is 
his earnest prayer that its aim and motive shall 
be pleasing to all whom it may reach, and that 
as it goes forth in the world, its spirit shall 
touch the hearts of the people, that as they read, 
they may be trained to reflect and reason; and 
that in this way characters may be moulded to 
hasten the establishment of the system of edu¬ 
cation I have endeavored to outline. 

The Author desires to acknowledge with 
thanks all encouragement that has come to him, 
either in words or deeds, during the nearly two 
years he has battled against poverty and other 
obstacles to prepare these meditations for the 
cause of righteousness; these thoughts have 
come to him through much prayer and hard 
study. Notably among those giving encour¬ 
agement are: “A merchant at Sand Springs, 
Tulsa County, Oklahoma, from whose leaflet he 
has quoted several statements; Mr. Green, a 
very successful young merchant in Morehead 
City, N. C.; and Mr. Johnson, an electrician, 
and superintendent of a Sunday School in Beau¬ 
fort, N. C.; Bishop W. L. Lee, D.D., of Brook¬ 
lyn, N. Y.; and Bishop G. L. Blackwell, D.D., 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 11 

LL.D., of Philadelphia, Pa., both of whom pro¬ 
nounced the work the best on the subject they 
had seen, and promised that it would get their 
support when published. Bishop Blackwell 
spoke of it before the Board of Bishops of 
which he is a member, and wrote the author 
two very encouraging letters; a splendid letter 
from Mr. W. S. Richardson, on behalf of Mr. 
John D. Rockefeller, of 26 Broadway, N. Y.; 
and a beautiful Christian letter from Mr. John 
Wanamaker with his own autograph signature; 
two kind letters from Mr. Carl S. Vanwinkle, 
Secy., Interchurch World Movement of North 
America, New York City, giving the Author 
the privilege of using the tables and charts in 
their books, providing full credit is given to 
them; the Rev. I. H. Russell, D.D., Synodical 
Evangelist in the great Presbyterian Church, 
took the pains and time to read or hear read the 
whole manuscript that was almost completed. 
He told the author that he had read several 
books and pamphlets on the subject, but said he, 
“this is the best I have seen yet. That book is 
just what the Church needs. If it were pub¬ 
lished I could sell thousands of volumes on my 
District.” 

Although the Author has not received any 
financial strength up to the present, with the 
exception that Mr. Whitfield advanced funds to 
pay the typist and place the books in the hands 
of the critic, these encouragements have been 
very helpful indeed. 


12 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


On the 20th of December, 1888, the author 
was married to Miss Anne E. Palmer, of Con¬ 
cord, N. C., and unto them have been bom 14 
children, 9 of whom still live. Forty-eight of 
his best years have been given to the public. 
Before entering the ministry he served 12 
years as public school teacher, and the remain¬ 
der as an itinerant preacher of the gospel. His 
life has been an open book, and if he lives to 
see the 16th of May, 1923, he will have reached 
his seventy-first milestone. 

“Home and Church Tithing” is the crowning 
work of his life, which he now sends forth. 

The Author. 

A LETTER OF THANKS. 

To the various churches and friends who contributed funds, 
kindness and entertainment while we were in search for liberal 
hearts to lend, in the name of the Lord, the money to publish 
the first edition of the “Home and Church Tithing 1 , 1 ” the author 
desires to express grateful thanks. 

To Mr. A. Bronson Whitfield for advancing the money to 
typewrite the entire manuscript; and to W. H. Goler, A.M., 
D.D.; Prof. J. H. Johnson, AJM.; Mr. C. H. Jones; G. W. Gaines, 

D. D.; and a very dear friend who refuses to allow his name 
to be used. The author wishes to state that these gentlemen 
have been important factors in the publication of this work. 

To the following clergymen! who in the midst of their very 
busy hours stopped their work long enough to read the manu¬ 
script. Their testimonials can be seen elsewhere in this volume. 

To A. M. McDiment, D.D., and I. H. Russel, DJD., both of 
the Presbyterian Church; J. H. Coffin, D.D., and J. H. Holder, 
both of the Episcopal Church; C. L. Reid, D. D., of the M. 

E. Church, South; G. W. Gaines, D. D., and J. Francis Lee D. D., 
of the A. M. E. Zion Church; arid Rev. McB. White, D. D., 6f 
the Baptist Church, who not only read the manuscript, gave of 
his means along with other clergymen, but furnished stationery 
and did much typewriting and mimeographing. He has given the 
author much encouragement and help in the hour of greatest 
need. 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


13 


To that excellent journal, the Christian Herald, which read 
every line of the manuscript. They assumed the attitude of 
teachers, and gave the author from time to time suggestive 
thoughts as to how to get the book before the religious world. 
They have promised to review it as soon as it is published. 
They also gave the author the privilege of using the name of 
their editor emeritus, Dr. Sanderson, who comments that it is 
the best work on tithing that he has ever read. The Author 
knows of no way of fully expressing his gratitude to the great 
Christian Herald for its valuable services to him. 

Last, but by no means least, is the service rendered by the 
critics. The author selected as critic an intimate friend, a man 
of superior scholarly attainments, Edward Moore, A.M., Ph.D., 
M.D., Professor of Greek and Latin for more than forty years. 
Dr. Mtoore was authorized to call to his assistance any scholar 
he cou'ld secure. After reading the manuscript he placed it in 
the hands of an able scholar, J. S. Nathaniel Tross, B.D., Ph.D., 
Professor of philosophy. Professor Tross is a fine student, 
keen, critical and exact. Dr. Moore told the author that Dr. 
Tross, to his mind, is the best prepared man for critical work 
of this kind that he knows or can secure. Professor Tross is 
also the editor and compiler. He has spared no pains in giv¬ 
ing this work his best service. 

The services of these great men bring the author under last¬ 
ing obligations to them. 

THE AUTHOR. 

Kinston, N. C. 


INTRODUCTION. 

By E. Moore, A. M., Ph. D., M. D. 

From my busy routine of work in the school room and among 
the people in the community. I am sorry that I can only snatch 
a few minutes to write a short introduction to “Home and 
Church Tithing” by the Rev. James T. Gaskill. 

The author is a life-long friend of mine and one of the best 
men whom I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. 

The book is the legitimate product of a life of high and holy 
living. In his three years of retirement from the active duties 
of the pulpit, in the silence of cloister and closet he caught a 
vision and received a message which may change the current 
of thought along this line in Church and Society. 

In this book the author discusses a scriptural subject of vast 
importance, but one which in this age of graft and greed is 
being greatly neglected. It has been so long overlooked by 
men in pulpit and pew that it is encouraging and inspiring to 
hear this Godly man of richly endowed and cultured mind come 


14 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


forward with not a rehash of an ! antiquated argument, but with 
one of surprising originality and freshness. 

He exhibits not only a thorough familiarity with the facts 
and doctrines of the divine writings, but a remarkable insight 
into their true import, which seems to have been born' of his 
reliance on God for the presence of the Holy Spirit to shed 
light on his truth. 

The many sensible and practical illustrations with which the 
author has interspersed his book will have a strong attraction 
for all interested in the progress of a cause which promises 
such genuine good. 

In this book the author stands out as a man of God, deeply 
yearning and arduously laboring for the triumph of light over 
darkness and truth over error. We earnestly pray that on its 
mission in the home, the school and the church this little book 
may create broader and more liberal views, deepen* religious 
convictions, and help in the production of grander and nobler 
specimens of Christian manhood and womanhood. 

E. MOORE. 

Salisbury, N. C. 


CHAPTER I. 

TITHING METHOD 

God’s loving plan for entering co-partnership 
with men, so as to give them prosperity in all 
manner of righteous business enterprises, is to 
have His Treasury in the home as well as in the 
Church, and we ourselves to be His honest, 
obedient, consecrated Stewards and Steward¬ 
esses. As such, He would have us tithe all our 
income, wages, increase or profit to the Lord 
God, whether of our herd or flock, seed of the 
ground or fruit of the trees—that is, we are 
to give Him one-tenth interest in all of our af¬ 
fairs, or ten cents out of every dollar’s worth 
of material blessing He bestows upon us. 

And we must see to it that this is done, either 
daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly, as the case 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 15 

may be. Whenever the income, wages, increase 
or profit gets into our possession, we must sep¬ 
arate the Lord’s part from ours, and place His 
one tenth into the “Home Treasury of the 
Lord,” where it must remain as a fund out of 
which we are to get money for the various de¬ 
mands of the particular Church to which we 
may belong. This includes the local Church, 
General Church, Home and Foreign Missions, 
Poor, Sick, Education, in fact, any and all 
benevolences that may appeal to us. 

And whenever the pastor and his officials 
stand in need of funds to maintain any part of 
the Master’s kingdom, he must issue a call for 
his members and friends to bring all the tithes 
from the Lord’s “Home Treasury,” into His 
church treasury, and the church clerk or secre¬ 
tary shall give each person credit for the 
amount brought in. 

The rally is over, and no one has begged a 
penny. God has been glorified, and represented 
not as a pauper god, but as a rich, independent, 
great and mighty God, whose people love and 
adore Him; in obedience to His commands, they 
willingly bring their tithes and offerings and 
lay them down at His feet. 

The people return to their homes rejoicing, 
and the blessed work of tithing goes on as be¬ 
fore, according as the Lord prospers them in 
their different vocations. If we thus honor 
the Lord with our substance and the first fruits 
of our increase, “our barns shall be filled with 


16 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

plenty, and our presses shall burst out with new 
wine.” Prov. 3:9-10. 

When “The Home and Church Tithing Sys¬ 
tem” shall have been thoroughly established, 
we can then say to our good missionary women, 
and young girls, “Come off the field, as beggars 
for money; prepare yourselves, and go on the 
field, as winners of souls.” 

We’ll enable the hard worked pastors to cease 
holding weekly rally meetings, preaching every 
night for some club to get a few dollars; the 
Bishops and high authorities in all denomina¬ 
tions can then say to the pastors, officials and 
laymen—study your Bible, and the Lord’s plan 
culled out of it, and plainly arranged in “The 
Home and Church Tithing System;” keep the 
people informed and educated to know their 
duty to God, and to humanity. 

The Tither says: “Prove God and His prom¬ 
ises to bless you financially. Trust Him and 
tithe,. and your financial worries will cease. 
God is faithful and true and loves you.” 

Read His commands and promises in the 
Holy Bible, Malachi 3:10-12. “Bring ye all the 
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be 
meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, 
saith the Lord of Hosts; if I will not open the 
windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing 

that there shall not be room enough to receive 
it.” 

And I will rebuke the devourer for your 
sake, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


17 


ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit 
before the time in the field, saith the Lord of 
Hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; 
for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the 
Lord God of Hosts.” 

In the above statement, we have an emphatic 
challenge from God to prove and test Him, upon 
His promise, that He will open the windows of 
heaven, and pour out such a wonderful blessing 
upon us, that-we shall not have room enough 
to receive it. We say that we love Him; let us 
take up the challenge. It only requires a con¬ 
secrated heart and life and one tenth of our 
income, let that be little or much. If we are 
honest and keep our part of the covenant, God 
on His part guarantees to us marvellous success. 
It pays to be just and righteous; let us “ren¬ 
der therefore unto Caesar the things which be 
Caesar’s and unto God the things which be 
God’s.”—Luke 20:25. 

CHAPTER II. 

LET US TRUST AND PROVE THE LORD. 

God asks us to prove Him, let us do so. Do 
you ask how this can be done? Let us see: 
Are you a banker, merchant, railroad man, 
manufacturer, retired millionaire, or business 
man? Are you a lawyer, doctor, preacher of 
the gospel, school teacher, soldier, sailor, land¬ 
lord or tenant on any line of the various 
branches of agriculture or real estate? Are 


18 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


you a male or female wage earner connected 
with any of the great industrial plants, or are 
you an humble toiler, unknown outside of your 
own community, whose circumstances are as 
peculiarly embarrassing as the poor widow of 
Zarepthath whom the Lord commanded to sus¬ 
tain the prophet Elijah, when she had only a 
handful of meal in the barrel, and a little oil 
in a cruse? 1 Kings 17:12. Whoever you are, 
whatever may be your circumstances, whether 
you are rich or poor, living in the city, or in 
the country, in a mansion or in a hovel, the 
God of heaven loves you, and desires to help 
you; “For God so loved the world, that He gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believ- 
eth in Him, should not perish, but have ever¬ 
lasting life/' 

In His great anxiety to help us, He found 
that our heart lay close to our treasure, and 
said: “For where your treasure is, there will 
your heart be also.” Matt. 6:21. So intent on 
helping us in every possible way, He made a 
law, which permits Him to enter our business 
life, and give us unbounded success. If we are 
willing, He will become our silent partner in 
any and all of our wholesome, honest and up¬ 
right business affairs that will honor God, edify 
men and help make the world a better place to 
live in. 

Do you still ask: How can we prove God? 
Give Him a place in our hearts and lives, estab¬ 
lish His treasury in our homes, make a vow, 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING l» 

as Jacob did, saying: “If God will be with me, 
and will keep me in this way that I go, and will 
give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 
so that I may come again to my father's house 
in peace: then shall the Lord be my God: And 
this stone which I have set for a pillar, shall be 
God's house: And of all that thou shalt give me, 
I will surely give the tenth unto thee." And 
then let us keep that vow faithfully like Jacob 
did; and as surely as he became a rich man in 
twenty years, and returned to his father's 
house in peace, so surely, if we are now living in 
poverty, will we find ourselves on the road to 
prosperity in a very much shorter time. 

The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood 
of man embody honesty and righteousness. 

And when men depart from honesty and 
righteousness, they are soon ready to deny the 
fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. 

Love is the bond that binds men to honesty 
and righteousness, and enables them to recog¬ 
nize God their Father and all men as their breth¬ 
ren. 

Man is a free moral agent. God is love, and 
love is the bond that links man to God, and 
none can sever this bond, but man, who of his 
own volition has been inclined to go away from 
God. Hence the Lord says through the prophet 
Malachi, 3:7-10, “Even from the days of your 
fathers, ye are gone away from mine ordinances 
and have not kept them. Return unto me and 
I will return unto you, saitb the Lord of hosts." 


20 home and church tithing 

“But ye said, Wherein shall we return? 

“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed 
me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed 
thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed 
with a curse: for ye have robbed me even this 
whole nation.” 

It is shown here that God not only holds His 
people accountable for not giving Him what be¬ 
longs to Him, but the whole nation is held 
equally accountable for the same sin of robbery. 
He tells them that they are “cursed with a 
curse.” 

Now listen to Him, extending the blessed in¬ 
vitation of repentance to all sinners, and espe¬ 
cially those who have robbed Him, all who have 
failed to give to His cause one tenth of their 
income: “Bring ye all the tithes into the store¬ 
house, that there may be meat in mine house, 
and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of 
hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, 
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall 
not be room enough to receive it.” 

If you are poor and living in want, bring all 
the tithes in, that is, ten cents out of every dol¬ 
lar the Lord giveth, or enables you to get, and 
deposit in the Lord’s Home Treasury until the 
Church calls for all the tithes to be brought 
into the Lord’s storehouse; then obey the call, 
and the Lord will bless you with plenty and 
wonderful prosperity. 

If you are rich, and have fears, and troubles 
on account of your wealth; let the Lord come 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 21 

into your heart and life, and give Him one 
tenth interest in all of your affairs, then estab¬ 
lish His Treasury in your home, subject to some 
religious denomination whose worship it is most 
convenient for you to attend; and place one 
tenth of all your income in this Home Treasury 
of the Lord, and when the pastor and his offi¬ 
cials call for the members and friends to bring 
all the tithes into the Lord's storehouse, obey 
the call, and bring all the tithes from the Lord's 
Treasury in your home to His Treasury in the 
Church of which you are a member, (if not 
of the Church, of the Congregation), where the 
Secretary or the Church Clerk, must give you 
credit (in the book kept for that special pur¬ 
pose) for the amount brought in. Returning 
to your home, continue “The Home and Church 
Tithing System," the remainder of your life— 
do not depart from it under any circumstances. 
It will be your protection. Let it be a fixity in 
your life and home government, and the Lord 
will pour such blessings upon you, if you are 
poor, as will lift you up in the estimation of the 
community in which you live, and give you won¬ 
derful prosperity. If you are wealthy, He will 
protect your riches, and cause your fears to 
cease, and for your troubled mind He will give 
you peace, with the assurance that your wealth 
will not take wings and fly away as long as 
you faithfully and conscientiously give your 
heart, life, and one tenth of your income unto 
the Lord. 


CHAPTER III. 

ANOTHER TITHING WITNESS. 

Of the cloud of witnesses who are willing to 
testify that the Lord is good, and interested in 
every phase of man's welfare we have selected 
only a few of the leading characters. 

We are told that Huyler, the great “Candy 
King," is a strong witness for the Lord, that if 
we are willing to be truly honest, and give Him 
the one tenth which actually belongs to Him, 
He will become our business partner, and bless 
us in all our legitimate and righteous business 
affairs, far beyond our most sanguine expecta¬ 
tion. 

Young Huyler was a very poor boy, but early 
learned to love the Lord. He believed that God's 
word is true, and that since He is the Creator 
of all things, if He demands one tenth of the 
products of the world, those who have the use 
of the world, ought to yield to his demand. 
Hence, he agreed to give the Lord one-tenth in¬ 
terest in his business, and it is said that he has 
become the richest candy manufacturer in the 
world. 

The Lord has given him favor in the eyes 
of many of the great railroad men of this coun¬ 
try, so much so, that they sell his candy up and 
down their lines of travel. Hence, they have 
become his free agents to advertise his goods 
throughout the civilized world. 

The eleventh verse of the third chapter of 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 23 

Malachi clearly promises material and spiritual 
blessings from God, as a reward to those who 
tithe and trust Him. And the tithers have been 
all these years, and are still receiving these 
promised blessings, because they have taken 
the source of them into partnership, and have 
been strictly honest, giving Him His part, the 
one tenth of the income. 

Do you ask if these promised blessings really 
include us? They certainly do, if we give our 
hearts to God, consecrate our lives, tithe regu¬ 
larly, and honestly give the Lord all the tenth 
which belongs to Him. It matters not how 
poor or how rich you are, whether a farmer, 
fruit-grower, laborer, mechanic, clerk, profes¬ 
sional man or woman, merchant, lawyer, doc¬ 
tor, manufacturer, employer or employee in any 
station in life, in the city or country, you are 
included if you accept His offer, and take Him 
into your business. He only asks a one tenth 
interest in it for your sake. 

God’s commands and promises are an open 
challenge to every man, woman and child in the 
world. I. Corinthians 16:2. 

“Upon the first day of the week, let every one 
of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered 
him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” 

Bible students know that there was a custom 
and law among the Israelites to give the Lord 
one-tenth of all their income. 

In Deuteronomy 8:18, we are told, “But thou 
shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is He 


24 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


that giveth thee power to get wealth.” You 
may ask: How can the Lord inspire one to get 
wealth or enable one to become prosperous? 

We answer: Through the spirit of inspira¬ 
tion He gives understanding—Job 32:8, “But 
there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of 
the Almighty giveth them understanding.” 

So it is to our advantage to have the Lord 
with us in our business; He will be our counsel¬ 
lor and advisor, and if we will allow Him, He 
will be our General Manager, and then the busi¬ 
ness is sure to prosper. Certainly He will not 
allow a business to fail or go down of which He 
has full charge, unless by the failure of the 
business, man to be edified and God glorified. 

Truly God is the rightful owner ! of every¬ 
thing. He tells us in the book of Haggai 2:8: 
“The silver is mine and the gold is mine.” And 
yet, He allows us the use of all His property; 
the whole world is given over into our hands, 
with all of its varied and multiplied interests, 
reserving to Himself the right of one tenth in¬ 
terest in all of our righteous business enter¬ 
prises. He also promises that if we are honest, 
and give Him all that belongs to Him, that He 
will insure success, the windows of heaven will 
be opened and blessings poured upon us out of 
the kingdom. 

If we honor Him by leaning on His promises, 
accepting His proposition, and give Him one 
tenth interest in all of our business affairs, He 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 25 

will honor us with blessings of plenty and great 
prosperity. 

Is it not reasonable to believe that God who 
created things, fixed the scheme of redemption 
and laid the plan of salvation, through the suf¬ 
fering, death and resurrection of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, will bless and prosper us 
in our financial affairs, as well as in our spiri¬ 
tual? If we accept Him as a member of our 
firm, by giving Him one tenth interest in all of 
our affairs, we have the right to look for and ex¬ 
pect His blessings upon us, for by accepting His 
proposition we bring ourselves within the 
bounds of His promises. 

We have never heard nor read of a man, 
woman or child failing who honestly tithed. 
They cannot fail who keep His commandments 
and tithe, for tithing and consecration (of life) 
make up God's unimpeachable rule for man's 
financial and spiritual success in this world. 
But the Covenant and the tithing must be con¬ 
scientiously kept. 

God gives a day of rest, one day out of seven, 
for our good, that we may accomplish more, 
and do our work easier during the remaining 
six days of the week. So God demands of us 
one dollar out of ten, for our good, that this 
dollar or the tenth of our income, go for the 
extension of His kingdom in the world, that we 
may through the blessings of God, get greater 
returns from the nine dollars, or the nine tenths 
of? our income, than we could possibly have 


26 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


reaped from the ten dollars or the whole of our 
income, had we not given the Lord His part. 

CHAPTER IV. 

MR. WANAMAKER AS A WITNESS. 

As an humble, honest, consecrated tither, Mr. 
John Wanamaker was a beacon light and a strik¬ 
ing example for the Church of God to follow in 
giving the Lord what really belongs to Him: (1) 
He possessed a consecrated heart and life, and 
(2) He gave one tenth of all his income to the 
Church, that the world might be inspired to 
seek first the kingdom of God and His right¬ 
eousness which is the preparation for being the 
recipient of all the necessary things of life. 

The way leading through this open door into 
the Lord’s treasure house, consists of the new 
birth, obedience, tithing, and a living trust in 
God. 

It is said of this great man that he too, started 
out in life a poor boy, with no capital, save the 
stalwart character moulded in a Christian 
home, the training at the family altar, in the 
Sunday School and Church where he learned to 
seek first the kingdom of God and His right¬ 
eousness. 

While a little boy, with his basket on his arm 
selling peanuts and candy, he would mutter, 
“Lord prosper me in my business, and I will give 
you one tenth of my income.” 

Taking the Lord as partner, giving Him one 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


27 


tenth interest in the business, looking to and 
depending on Him as busines manager, his 
merchant ship safely and successfully glided 
over the billowy and tempestous sea of com¬ 
merce into the haven of great and phenomenal 
prosperity, while untold numbers who have 
robbed the Lord of His tenth, and trusted in 
themselves, in their own ability to guide their 
business craft, have been swamped and buried 
beneath the angry waves in their struggle to 
cross the mighty ocean of commerce. 

Read Mr. Wanamaker’s letter to the author 
of this volume, and see if you can discover the 
secret of his great success. 

“Private Office 
JOHN WANAMAKER 
Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 24th, 1921. 
Reverend James T. Gaskill, 

Kinston, N. C. 

Reverend and dear Sir: 

Your letter of the 16th was received last even¬ 
ing, and I thank you very much. 

No human being can tell but a mite of the 
goodness of the Heavenly Father in opening up 
the life of His children and strengthening them, 
teaching them His will. There is no book like 
the Book of books, and there is no other power 
in the world that is not secondary to the power 
of the Holy Ghost, who is God’s gift to us who 
are only trying to serve Him. 

Very truly yours, 

John Wanamaker.” 


28 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

By bringing all the tithes into the storehouse, 
the Lord opened up the windows of heaven and 
poured out blessings upon him, until he was 
compelled to build and rebuild several times 
that he might have room enough to receive 
them. And his fame went out that he was the 
richest merchant prince in the world. 

He never divorced himself from the Church 
of God, nor religious work in general, for his 
light ever shone out before men, who saw his 
good works, and were constrained to glorify 
their Father in heaven. 

Through the years in the midst of great busi¬ 
ness transactions, he found time to study his 
Bible, and prepare himself for the work of lead¬ 
ing men. And for many years, it is said, that 
he was superintendent of the largest Sunday 
School in the world. 

The lives of these great men (and no man is 
truly great, unless he is really striving to be 
good) ought to be taught, held up and eulogized, 
before the youth of the land, in the homes, and 
in the schools, both religious and secular, that 
the young people might be inspired to emulate 
the examples of the wise and good. 

Mr. Wanamaker never forgot his God, for He 
was his business partner, upon whom he de¬ 
pended for wisdom, knowledge and understand¬ 
ing to guide and conduct all his business affairs 
in every step he took. And the Lord kept him 
here in the business world under the open win¬ 
dows of heaven, where the blessings of a good 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


29 


name, health, happiness, wonderful prosperity 
and a long life of usefulness were continually 
poured upon him, while he willingly gave the 
Lord what really and truly belonged to Him; a 
consecrated life, and one tenth of all his income. 

CHAPTER V. 

ANOTHER TITHING TESTIMONY. 

Mr. John D. Rockefeller was said to be the 
richest individual man in the world. It is also 
stated that he started out in life a very poor 
boy, and had to fight a terrific battle against 
poverty. His educational advantages were 
very meager; but he was reared in a Christian 
homeland the training he received there, sup¬ 
plemented by that which he received in the 
Sunday School and Church, pointed out to him 
the road which has led him to such phenomenal 
success, as to astound the world of mankind. It 
was through the training of the home and the 
Church that he learned “one tenth” of the prod¬ 
ucts of the world belongs to God, for the civil¬ 
izing, educating, evangelizing and christianiz¬ 
ing of the world for man’s happiness and His 
glory. And that God has been and still is hold¬ 
ing out a proposition to men, that if they will 
bring all the tithes into the storehouse, He will 
open the windows of heaven, and pour them 
out a blessing, so wonderful, that there shall not 
be room enough to receive it. 

It is said that in his battles against poverty, 


30 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


his first venture was in the merchandise busi¬ 
ness, and he lost out. He was induced, how¬ 
ever, to take the Lord into partnership, giving 
Him one-tenth interest in all his business af¬ 
fairs, hence he adopted the “Home Tithing Sys¬ 
tem,which has obtained throughout his life 
to this very day. And the Lord blessed him 
with wisdom and understanding, caused him to 
discover and get in possession of a product that 
would be in great demand throughout the whole 
world. He is a faithful tither, and the Lord has 
so wonderfully blessed him, it seems, that the 
windows of heaven have remained open, and the 
blessings of a long life and great riches have 
been pouring in upon him all these years. Solo¬ 
mon says: “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh 
rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.”—Prov. 
10 : 22 . 

There was a period in the history of this 
good man’s career,, when the public was inclined 
to look upon his life as questionable—even his 
money was said to be tainted or blood-money. 
This was doubtless an error, through ignorance, 
not knowing the secret source of this man’s 
great wealth. 

The author of this volume regards Mr. Rocke¬ 
feller s money as being holy and consecrated. 

In his heart, he made a covenant to give the 
ord one tenth of all his income, and scrupu¬ 
lously kept that covenant, as the following let¬ 
ter will show: 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


31 


26 Broadway, New York, Aug. 19, 1921. 
Dear Rev. Gaskill: 

On behalf of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, I am 
replying to your communication of Aug. 15th. 

While Mr. Rockefeller and his son have both 
followed a plan of giving liberally of their in¬ 
come, and believe in the tithing principle, we 
do not find that they have kept exactly to their 
idea, but have more often given considerably 
more than the tithe. 

Very truly yours, 

W. S. Richardson. 

Rev. James T. Gaskill, 

Kinston, N. C. 

He proved the Lord, by bringing all the tithes 
into the storehouse, and the Lord fulfilled His 
promise by opening the windows of heaven, and 
pouring out such a blessing upon him, that there 
was not room enough to receive it, hence the 
Lord started him out buying and building to 
make room for these blessings, and has kept him 
busy making room ever since. He is one of the 
many who have found out that it is more blessed 
to give than to receive, hence he did not stop 
with giving the tenth, for the above quoted let¬ 
ter from the secretary or manager of his benev¬ 
olent department says: “While he and his son 
believe in the tithing principle, they had not 
kept exactly to their idea, but more often had 
given considerably more than the tithe.” 

According to a recent statement in one of the 


32 home and church tithing 

December issues of the Christian Herald in 
1920, this good man had already up to that date, 
paid out of the Lord’s “Home Treasury,” for the 
spread of his Master’s kingdom, the staggering 
sum of $475,000,000. 

Those who charge Mr. Rockefeller with rob¬ 
bing the people, when kerosene oil rises one cent 
on the gallon, had better examine the question 
more closely and logically, to ascertain whether 
the advance in the price of oil has been of his 
own volition, or by commission as the Lord’s 
collecting agent to get a small percentage of the 
one tenth from the world of robbers the Lord 
has been carrying in His arms for thousands of 
years. 

Let us see, and reason on this subject: Mr. 
Rockefeller made a covenant with God, and hon¬ 
ored Him by keeping it. So the Lord knew that 
all the blessings passing through the hands of 
Rockefeller’s honest heart, would be tithed. 
Hence, He commissioned him, as His collecting 
agent, for He hath promised to honor those who 
honor Him. And it is doubtful whether Mr. 
Rockefeller knows to this very day that the 
Lord has conferred this honor upon him. 

When there is a special need of f nance on 
some line of religious endeavor, the Lord simply 
touches the heart of his agent, and it becomes 
absolutely necessary for the price of oil to go 
up one cent on the gallon. Nobody knows why, 
Mr. Rockefeller himself does not know, but God 
does. He must have something from these rob- 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


33 


bers in charge of His world, whom He has kept 
alive, fed, clothed and given great prosperity all 
these years. 

The price goes up—God gets one mill per gal¬ 
lon, and Mr. Rockefeller nine mills. In the sale 
of every hundred million gallons, the Lord gets 
one hundred thousand dollars, and Mr. Rocke¬ 
feller nine hundred thousand. This is one of 
the Lord's ways to reward his people in this life, 
when they have faith enough to give their 
hearts, consecrate their lives, trust Him and 
tithe all their income. 

It was said at one time, that Mr. Rockefeller 
could not live, he had no stomach, and that he 
would give a million dollars to be able to digest 
a good meal—it was only a question of a short 
time and he would be gone. 

This was said more than a quarter of a cen¬ 
tury ago, and he is living today (1923). It is 
evident that those who were talking and writ¬ 
ing about him, did not know the man—many 
of the talkers and writers have long since passed 
into the great beyond, while he sits in his easy 
chair, with the windows of heaven open, and 
the blesing of reasonable health, long life, pos¬ 
sessions everywhere, and the distinction of be¬ 
ing the richest man in all the world is being 
poured out upon him . 

Whether he has any stomach or not, it ap¬ 
pears that he is being kept here as a witness for 
the Lord that if the people, from the highest 
officials to the lowest members in the Church, 


34 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

will be honest with God, consecrate their hearts 
and lives, and bring all the tithes into the store¬ 
house, He will open the windows .of heaven, and 
pour them out a blessing as individuals, so 
great, that they will not have room enough to 
receive it. 


CHAPTER VI. 

PLACE FOR TITHING IN EXPERIENCE. 

Hear the testimony of a merchant at “Sand 
Springs, Tulsa County, Oklahoma/’ whose leaf¬ 
let I have before me: 

“The writer of this leaflet is a merchant and 
proved God’s challenge, and testifies to the exact 
and wonderful truth of these promises. They 
are true and sure, and God will prove to you 
that He is God, and that He loves you, and 
keeps all His promises; and that the Bible is His 
everlasting word, and that He blesses and pros¬ 
pers those who tithe.” The same merchant 
says: “Some time ago, the writer of this 
pamphlet, read about Jacob’s vow to tithe, and 
how the Lord blessed him, in the book called 
Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright, writ¬ 
ten by.Rev. J. H. Allen, of Pasadena, Calif. My 
attention was called to the fact that the Bible re¬ 
lated how Jacob returned to his home in twenty 
years with riches and blessings as a result of 
his covenant of tithing. With some doubts, 
and with a desire to test if the Bible is true, 
and to prove without a shadow of doubt, that 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING & 

there is a God, and that His promises are ever¬ 
lasting and to everyone, I made a special cov¬ 
enant to set aside a certain percentage of my 
income or increase. 

At that time, I had a mortage on my home, 
owed heavily, and was burdened with cares and 
worry. I determined to prove God. Within 
three months unexpected and unforeseen bless¬ 
ings came to me, and God opened my eyes to 
see His love and faithfulness to His promises. 
Since that time, I have been blessed beyond my 
utmost expectations in every way, and pros¬ 
pered in everything I have put my hand to ; I 
believe in my heart, God accepted my taking 
up His offer in Malachi third chapter, and that 
my blessings have been due to that fact. 

I have been through a flood, an earthquake, 
and two fires without any ultimate loss. In 
hard times I have made money, and I believe at 
all times there has been a protecting care 
around me, that has kept me from many mis¬ 
haps, or mistakes, that I would have made, if 
left to my own judgment. Heavenly blessings, 
too, have been wonderfully great—I thank God 
for the privilege of tithing—-it is a great joy. 

There is no other confidence like it, for you have 
back of you, God’s constant care and watchful¬ 
ness over your business, or your work or posi¬ 
tion, that brings good to you at every turn, 
even though disguised at the time. You can 
step forward in the dark, knowing your feet 
will rest upon a rock safely; you can not fail. 


36 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


God will bless and prosper you even greater 
than your ability to receive. I believe tithing is 
a solution for poverty. 

“I testify to the reality of God, the truth of 
His Holy Scriptures, and that God keeps His 
promises,” The Writer. 

The above is the testimony from the pen of 
one who, when he started out in the business 
world, had his doubts as to whether or not 
there is a God. Misfortune had overtaken him, 
deeply involved him in debt, placed the iron 
shackles of a mortgage upon his home, with the 
evident intention of adding his name to the un¬ 
fortunate list of the bankrupt business men, 
who had fallen by the wayside. He was told 
that the Bible says: When Jacob was a young 
man, an exile from home, poor, and in distress; 
that he vowed a vow unto the Lord, that if God 
would be with Him, and keep him in the way 
he was going, give him bread to eat and rai¬ 
ment to put on, and cause him to return to his 
father’s house in peace; then he affirmed that 
the Lord should be his God, and the stone which 
he had set for a pillar, should be God’s house, 
and of all the Lord would give to him, he would 
surely give the tenth unto Him; and that in 
about twenty years, Jacob returned to his fa¬ 
ther’s house in peace, having great riches. 

This merchant, who was almost ready to give 
up in despair, determined to prove for himself, 
if there is a God, whose promised blessings are 
open to every one; hence he accepted the Lord 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


37 


in partnership with him, and solemnly pledged 
to give Him a certain percentage of all his in¬ 
come ; and within three months, the Lord opened 
the eyes of his understanding, so that he could 
see the showers of unexpected blessings poured 
upon him, enabling him to cancel the mortgage 
on his home, pay all his debts, and throw off 
the heavy burden of cares and worry that had 
been weighing him down and impeding his 
progress, and now he has no doubts as to the 
existence of the Almighty God, whose promised 
blessings are open to every one; for he fully 
believes in His word. He confidently leans upon 
His promises, for he declares, through the 
blesings of God, he has prospered in everything 
he has put his hands to. 

CHAPTER VII. 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF TITHING IN 

BUSINESS. 

There is a merchant in Morehead City, N. C., 
by the name of Mr. Green, who started out in 
business not long since, with a capital of only 
$3.00 in a rented house. He invested $2.35 in 
apples, reserving 65c for change. He says, 
about one year ago, in 1919, he accepted the 
Lord in partnership with him, giving Him one- 
tenth interest in his business; and today, con¬ 
sidering the capital invested, and the circum¬ 
stances surrounding his condition when he 
commenced business, the author of this volume 


38 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

really believes, that Mr. Green has made greater 
progress than any other merchant in his town. 
He now owns the store in which he is doing busi¬ 
ness, has purchased another building and re¬ 
moved it to the rear of his store. In this build¬ 
ing he is conducting a splendid barber’s busi¬ 
ness. He said to the writer, “Reverend, come 
to my store and see my business, the Lord really 
has prospered me! Every Saturday night, my 
business closes about 12 o’clock, and it takes an 
hour to find out what my income has been dur¬ 
ing the week, so that I can separate the Lord’s 
part from mine. Then I retire for rest. 

“On the Sabbath morning I go to Church, and 
when the offering is called for, I take the one- 
tenth of my income of the past week, and lay 
it all on the Lord’s table. And I have been do¬ 
ing this for about one year, but now, I shall 
adopt The Home and Church Tithing System.’ ” 
In the month of January, 1921, the author 
preached a sermon in the town of Beaufort, N. 
C., from the subject of “Giving the Lord what 
Belongs to Him." During the discussion he 
presented “The Home and Church Tithing Sys¬ 
tem,” and the spirit of the Lord accompanied 
His word, so that there were many who felt 
that all men ought to give to the Lord what 
really belongs to Him.. The author held that 
the first thing to be given is the sinful heart, 
which , must be regenerated—born again into 
the spiritual kingdom of grace and glory, so as 
to become a new creature. The next step is 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


39 


giving one tenth of all the income. This brings 
the creature and his Lord into co-partnership. 
The Supt. of the Sunday School of this particu¬ 
lar Church is a very bright young man of great 
promise, by the name of Mr. Johnson. He is 
employed by the town as an electrician, at a sal¬ 
ary of $100.00 per month. He said to the au¬ 
thor during the hour of the Sunday School serv¬ 
ice, “Reverend, after the sermon this morning, 
my wife said to me: “The Home and Church 
Tithing System” is a very good and practical 
plan, and I want you to establish it in our home 
at once.” The author said, “Will you do it?” 
and he said, “Yes.” He gave the author to un¬ 
derstand that Tuesday in that week would be 
his monthly pay day, and on that date the Lord’s 
Treasury would be established in his home with 
$10.00 in it. 

That tithing is a requirement, is right, and 
ought to be done, the Lord Jesus Himself is a 
witness, in that He does not discountenance it. 
He regards it as a necessary duty when He 
says: “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees! 
for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; 
and have omitted the weightier matters of the 
law, judgment, mercy and faith: these (paying 
tithes) ought ye to have done, and not to leave 
the other undone.” Matt. 23:23.” 


CHAPTER VIII. 

FAITHFULNESS AND TITHING BRING 

PROSPERITY. 

After the death of Abram’s father Terah, at 
the age of two hundred and five years; the Lord 
called Abram out from his idolatrous country 
and kindred,, including his father’s house, into 
a land which the Lord promised to show him. 

The Lord said to him, “I will make of thee a 
great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy 
name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And 
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him 
that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families 
of the earth be blessed.” Gen. 12:2-4. 

Abram was now seventy-five years old, and 
though surrounded by idolatry, when the Lord 
made this proposition to him, his faith rose up 
through the mist of heathenism, caught hold 
upon God, and he, his wife, nephew and all 
their possessions departed and followed the 
Lord, who led them through the land of Canaan, 
spending some time in Sichem and Bethel. And 
when the great famine came, the Lord led them 
down into Egypt, in Africa, where they so¬ 
journed for a short time. And when they re¬ 
turned out of Egypt to Bethel in Canaan, we 
are told that Abram was very rich in cattle, in 
silver, and in gold. He knew God, by faith; he 
had seen the windows of heaven open to him, 
and the Lord’s blessing poured upon him so 
abundantly that often he had no room to re- 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 41 

ceive them. The life and health of himself and 
family, his maidservants, menservants, cattle, 
his silver and gold, were all the result of these 
blessings. 

“From Cruden's Concordance Complete on the 

Tithe” 

# “The practice of paying tithes is very an¬ 
cient; for we find Gen. 14:20 that Abraham 
gave tithes of Melchizedek, king of Salem, at 
his return from his expedition against Chedor- 
laomer, and the four kings in confederacy with 
him. Abraham gave him the tithe of all the 
booty taken from the enemy. Jacob imitated 
this piety of his grandfather when he vowed to 
the Lord the tithe of all the substance he might 
acquire in Mesopotamia. Gen. 28:22: “Of all 
that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the 
tenth unto thee; for the maintenance of thv 
worship, and other pious uses. Under the law, 
Moses ordained, Lev. 27:30, 31, 32. All the tithe 
of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or 
of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy 
unto the Lord, etc. 

There were three sorts of tithes to be paid 
from the people (besides those from the Levites 
to the priests) Num. 28:26, 27, etc. (1) To the 
Levites, for their maintenance, Num. 18:21-24. 
(2) For the Lord's feasts and sacrifices, to be 
eaten in the place which the Lord should choose 
to put His name there: to-wit, where the Ark 
should be, the tabernacle or temple. This tenth 


42 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

part was either sent to Jerusalem in kind, or, 
if it was too far, they sent the value in money, 
which was to be laid out for oxen, sheep, wine, 
or what else they pleased, Deut. 14:22, 23,24, 
etc. (3) Besides these two, there was to be, 
every third year, a tithe for the poor, to be 
eaten at their own dwellings, Deut. 14-28:29. 
Some are of the opinion that this third tithe 
was not different from the second before taken 
notice of, except that in the third year it was 
not brought to the temple, but was used upon 
the spot by every one in the city of his habita¬ 
tion, so that there were only, according to them, 
two sorts of tithes, that which was given to 
Levites and priests, and that which was applied 
to making feasts of charity, either in the tem¬ 
ple of Jerusalem, or in other cities.” 

Tithes were paid to God as a sign of homage 
and gratitude: Thus Abraham’s giving tithes 
of the spoil to Melchizedek, was a token that he 
owned his victory and success to be from God; 
and when tithes were kept back from) the 
priests, the Lord complained that He was 
robbed. Mai. 3:8. The paying of them was an 
honoring of God, Prov. 3:9. Hence the Apos¬ 
tle proves the superiority of Melchizedek and 
and the priesthood of Levi, because Abraham 
and Levi in his loins, paid tithes unto him, as the 
lesser unto the greater, Heb. 7:4, 5, 6, etc. 

Jacob realized that if he were to rise out of 
poverty, so as to be able to enjoy the good 
things of this life, it must be brought about 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 43 

through a liberal heart—for it has always been 
more blessed to give than to receive—hence he 
presents to the Lord a proposition, sealed with 
a vow, saying: “If God will be with me, and will 
keep me in this way that I go, and will give me 
bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I 
come again to my father’s house in peace; then 
shall the Lord be my God: And this stone 
which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s 
house: And of all that thou shalt give me, I 
will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Gen. 28: 
20, 21, 22. And the man (Jacob) increased ex¬ 
ceedingly and had much cattle, and maidserv¬ 
ants, and menservants, and camels, and asses. 
Gen. 80:43. And in twenty years Jacob with 
great riches returned again to his father’s house 
in peace. 

And God said unto him (Jacob), I am God 
Almighty: be fruitful and multiply: a nation 
and a company of nation’s shall be of thee, and 
kings shall come out of thy loins. 

And the land which I gave Abraham and 
Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after 
thee will I give the land. Gen. 35:11. 


CHAPTER IX. 

TESTIMONY. 

God, the Creator of all things, and the judge 
of all men, who demands one tenth of the income 
of His creatures, now speaks “For thus saith the 
Lord of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I 
will shake the heaven, and the earth, and the 
sea, and the dry land : And I will shake all na¬ 
tions, and the desire of all nations (the .Mesiah, 
the Christ) shall come, and I will fill this house 
with my glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. Haggai 
2:6-7. 

What others say, who have proved tithing. 
Hear them: “I have been tithing several 
months, and find my blessings greater than be¬ 
fore.” “I have tithed several years, and God 
has greatly blessed me in all things. While I 
robbed Him (and I did) I had a hard time, all 
the time.” “I have been a tither for 14 years. 
I do not hesitate to say that I believe God has 
prospered me for it.” “For many years, I have 
adopted a plan of giving one tenth, never below 
it, in all these years have steadily prospered in 
worldly things.” “I am a tither. Have tithed 
for ten years, during my experience in the min¬ 
istry. God has blessed me and mine far above 
our deserts. I enjoy tithing, and propose to con¬ 
tinue it. I keep a carefully itemized tithing ac¬ 
count.” “I was in doubt for a long time that I 
ought to give largely to benevolence, while I was 
in debt. At length I was persuaded that I was 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 45 

robbing God to pay my creditors. My wife and 
I consulted over the matter, and decided to give 
a tenth, which we have done, and God is pros¬ 
pering us beyond any previous experience.” “I 
am a firm believer in the tithing system. I had 
to borrow every cent to commence business—I 
promised the Lord that I would give Him one 
tenth of all profits. I have succeeded beyond 
my expectations and the expectations of my 
friends.” “Since I started tithing I have been 
greatly benefited in soul and body, temporally, 
financially and spiritually.”-From “The Tither.” 

The above are testimonies of different tithers 
whose hearts seem to be overflowing with love 
and joy, in having the privilege to testify to the 
public, that God’s promise to open the windows 
of heaven and pour out a blessing upon those 
who honestly give Him one tenth of their in¬ 
come, is true. Righteous seed are precious, and 
when sown in good soil, by faith, will germinate, 
grow, mature and transform into nuggets of 
gold. 

“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the 
seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is 
the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord. And if a 
man will at all redeem aught of his tithes, he 
shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. 

And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of 
the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the 
rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. 

“He shall not search whether it be good or 
bad, neither shall he change it :and if he change 


46 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


it at all, then both it and the change thereof 
shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.” Levt. 
27.30-33. 

Those who give the Lord one tenth of their 
income, are making deposits into the infinite and 
eternal Bank—laying up treasures in heaven, 
according to the advice of our Lord and Master, 
who said: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures 
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, 
and where thieves break through and steal: But 
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where 
thieves do not break through and steal: 

For where your treasure is, there will your 
heart be also. Matt. 6:19-21. 

There is one thing we must not fail to see, and 
thoroughly understand, that as an assurance of 
our treasures being in heaven, our hearts and 
lives must be given to God, as well as the one 
tenth of our income. And then, the interest in 
blessings will come down upon us in this life, 
and in the life to come, we shall share with our 
blessed Redeemer, eternal riches, honor, power, 
and glory forever more. 


CHAPTER X 

SCRIPTURAL EXHORTATIONS TO 

TITHING 

When the Apostle Paul was taking leave of the 
Elders and members of the Church at Ephesus, 
bound in the spirit, on his way to Jerusalem, he 
said to them: “I have coveted no man’s silver, 
or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, 
that these hands have ministered unto my nec¬ 
essities, and to them that were with me. I have 
showed you all things, how that so laboring, ye 
ought to support the weak, and to remember the 
words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, “It is more 
blessed to give, than to receive. Acts. 20.33-35. 

Continuing to exhort the Lord’s people to obe¬ 
dience, the prophet Isaiah said: “Come ye near 
unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in 
secret from the beginning; from the time that 
it was, there am I: and no'w the Lord God, and 
his Spirit, hath sent me. 

Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the holy 
One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which 
teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by 
the way that thou shouldest go. 

“0 that thou hadst hearkened to my command¬ 
ments ! Then had thy peace been as a river, and 
thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy 
seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring 
of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name 
should not have been cut off nor destroyed from 
before me.” Isa. 48.16-19. 


48 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

Moses said to the Children of Israel: “When 
ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which 
the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and 
when He giveth you rest from all your enemies 
round about, so that ye dwell in safety; then 
there shall be a place which the Lord your God 
shall choose to cause His name to dwell there; 
thither shall ye bring all that I command you; 
your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your 
tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and 
your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord: 
And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, 
ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your 
men-servants, and your maid-servants, and the 
Levite that is within your gates; for as much as 
he hath no part nor inheritance with you. Deut. 
12 . 10 - 12 .” 

The Church of God is the great Ark of safety, 
into which all mankind is invited. It is estab¬ 
lished in the world to glorify God in the uplift 
and protection of man. Its primary object is to 
gather, house, train or instruct the unfortunate. 

The Creator of the Universe, the great and 
Mighty God, is the Author of the Church, and 
in His plan for the creature to worship His 
Creator, made ample provisions for carrying on 
this work indefinitely through the law of love. 
This law requires man to love the Lord his God 
with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with 
all his mind. This is the first and great com¬ 
mandment. And the second is like unto it, man 
is required to love his neighbour as himself. 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 49 

Hence it appears, that on this law of love com¬ 
posed of these two commandments hang all the 
law and the prophets. Worship may be com¬ 
pared to a fruit tree. The love of the heart, of 
the soul and mind, represent the sap of love or 
seed of life; the will-power, the tree; obedience 
and liberality, the fruit. When the sap of love 
or seed of life germinates and grows up into the 
will-power, sufficiently strong, love conquers, 
and brings man’s will in subjection to the will 
of God, through repentance, and faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ: Man having surrendered, be¬ 
comes a new creature, giving unto God, the love 
of all the heart, of all the soul, and of all the 
mind; hence he is prepared to love his neighbour 
as himself. 

Now, this tree of worship begins to bear the 
fruit of obedience and liberality. It is an easy 
matter for this soul to give unto the Lord one 
tenth of all his income, having already conse¬ 
crated his heart and life unto God. 

CHAPTER XI 

FAILURE TO TEACH TITHING BRINGS 
GOD’S DISPLEASURE 

After making some special provisions for the 
Levites, the Lord sharply reproves the priests, 
through the prophet Malachi, saying: “And now, 
0 ye priests, this commandment is for you. If 
ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, 
to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of 


50 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I 
will curse your blessings: yes, I have cursed 
them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. 
Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread 
dung upon your faces, even the dung of your 
solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with 
it. 

And ye shall know that I have sent this com¬ 
mandment unto you, that my covenant might be 
with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. 

My covenant was with him of life and peace; 
and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith 
he feared me, and was afraid before my name. 

The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity 
was not found in his lips: he walked with me in 
peace and equity, and did turn many away from 
iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep 
knowledge, and they should seek the law at his 
mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of 
hosts. Malachi 2.1-7. 

And there came a man of God unto Eli, and 
said unto him, thus saith the Lord, Did I not 
plainly appear unto the house of thy father, 
when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? 
And did I choose him out of all the tribes of 
Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, 
to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? 
And did I give unto the house of thy father, all 
the offerings made by fire of the children of 
Israel? 

Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and mine 
offering, which I have commanded in my habi- 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 51 

tation: And honourest thy sons above me, to 
make yourselves fat which chiefest of all the 
offerings of Israel my people? Wherefore the 
Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy 
house, and the house of thy father, should walk 
before me forever: but now the Lord saith, Be 
it far from me; for them that honour me, I will 
honour, and they that despise me, shall be lightly 
esteemed. I Sam. 2.27-30. 

CHAPTER XII 

THE GREAT NEED OF FUNDS TO HELP 
CIVILIZE AND CHRISTIANIZE 
THE WORLD 

Let us honor God, by loving Him with all our 
heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and 
our neighbour as ourself. This will enable us to 
easily consecrate our lives, and tithe all our in¬ 
come unto the Lord. 

Let us not forget His promises held out to us, 
that if we are honest, in bringing all the tithes 
into his storehouse, that He will open the win¬ 
dows of heaven, and pour us out a blessing so 
great, that we shall not have room to receive it. 

Copied from the “World Survey” by permis¬ 
sion : 

In these pages, we can only give an inkling of 
the appalling needs, in the work of propagating 
the kingdom of our Lord and Master, through¬ 
out the known world. It will require one tenth 
of the production of the world to sustain the 


52 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


Church, and mission-fields, in the conversion, re¬ 
generation, preparation and placing in line of 
service, the great army of Christian preachers 
and teachers, which the actual needs demand. 

And these should be kept constantly engaged 
in civilizing, evangelizing and christianizing, the 
non-Christian world; while the Gospel fires must 
be kept ablaze in the hearts of the Lord’s people 
throughout the Christian world. The spreading 
of the Lord’s kingdom can not be successfully 
carried on, according to the Lord’s plan, without 
one tenth of the income, of those professing to 
be Christians, at least. 

The “Survey” tells us that only one man in a 
dozen, in the non-Christian world, can read or 
write, and only one woman in twenty-five is lit¬ 
erate. Ignorance is a great barrier to civiliza¬ 
tion and Christianity; hence it is incumbent upon 
the Christian world to remove this obstruction, 
and let the regenerating gospel of our Lord have 
an uninterrupted sway in levelling down the 
hills, and filling up the valleys, for an everlasting 
triumph of the Redeemer’s Kingdom. 

It is encouraging to note, that the non-Chris- 
tion world is awakening to a desire for knowl¬ 
edge, and mission schools are needed to give 
spiritual value to the new culture that is coming 
into being. 

In Central Africa there are not only whole 
villages in which there is not a single person who 
can read, but whole tribes that have no written 
language. 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 53 

The great need of Africa, as of all mission 
fields, is for more teachers. Central Africa 
alone, counting one teacher for every fifty pupils 
of school age, needs two hundred and eighty 
thousand teachers, and this takes no account of 
the needs of the adult population. 

An estimation on an inference drawn from the 
above statement from the “World Survey,” al¬ 
lowing the same for North, South, East, and 
West Africa would require a million and four 
hundred thousand missionary teachers to care 
for the children in Africa of school age, saying 
nothing about the great army of missionary 
preachers to labor among the “grown-ups.” 

Africa has untold wealth, and has been con¬ 
sidered by some as “God's Treasure-house for 
the world.” If Christian civilization would be 
honest with God, and give Him the one tenth of 
their income which really belongs to Him, the 
second coming of the world's Redeemer would 
be hastened, and the “kingdoms of this world,” 
would soon “become the kingdom of Our Lord 
and his Christ.” 

There is already wealth enough stored in 
Africa, India, China, Russia, South America, and 
in all other non-Christian lands, one tenth of 
which, would more than reimburse the Christian 
world for any expenditures, in the work of civ¬ 
ilizing, educating and christianizing the inhabi¬ 
tants of the whole world. And when we con¬ 
sider the wealth stored in Christian lands, one 
tenth of which, if it were given, would be suffi- 


54 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


cient to carry on the great work of the world's 
redemption in restoring man back to God, with¬ 
out drawing on the resources of the undeveloped 
heathen lands, we can see that our heavenly Pa¬ 
rent made ample provisions for carrying on this 
work, way back in eternity of the past, when He 
planned creation. 

The “World Survey” informs us, that the civ¬ 
ilized white man seeks the wealth of the heathen 
world; the gold, silver, diamonds, ostrich feath¬ 
ers, copper, chrome ore, and wool of South 
Africa; the ivory, rubber, oils, copper and copal 
of the Central countries; the cotton, nuts, oil, 
hides, wool, cereals and tin of the North, to en¬ 
rich himself by means of these natural products 
of the country, without giving the natives that 
Christian civilization, which would help to en¬ 
rich them. The “World Survey” is authority for 
saying that the total foreign trade of Africa for 
the year prior to the World War, was close to 
two billion dollars; and that of itself was close 
to two hundred million dollars the civilized 
speculative business men robbed the Lord of 
which He needs in His work of civilizing, edu¬ 
cating and christianizing the natives whose 
country Africa is by inheritance. 


CHAPTER XIII 

HEATHEN COUNTRIES EXPLOITED 

Instead of carrying the blessings of education 
and Christianity, from our Western civilization 
to Africa’s ignorant heathen people, we have 
carried to them the curse of the fiery spirits of 
strong drink, prostitution and venereal diseases. 
According to the most conservative estimate, 
there are at least one hundred and sixty million 
of the non-Christian world utterly untouched by 
any missionary effort. 

These figures do not include the people of lo¬ 
calities—and there are many such—where there 
are merely not enough missionaries to handle 
the work; they include only the peoples living 
in areas where there are no missionaries at all. 

There are still four hundred and eighty thou¬ 
sand square miles of territory in China proper, 
with thirty-five or forty million inhabitants, ut¬ 
terly unclaimed by any missionary agency; and 
in Turkestan, Tibet and Mongolia, there are 
eleven or twelve million more who seem to have 
been forgotten by the Christian world. 

At least twenty-six million of natives of Cen¬ 
tral Africa have no missions among them or 
near them. Of the remaining twelve million 
over one-half are practically untouched by even 
the influence of the missions. 

Afghanistan, with a population of 6,380,500; 
Nepal, with 5,639,092, and Bhutan, with about 
300,000 inhabitants are all standing out in the 


56 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


cold icy refrigerator of heathenism, without a 
knowledge of the love of God, and Salvation 
through the death of His Son our Savoiour Jesus 
Christ. In Central and Southeastern Asia, in 
the Near East, in Latin America, there are mil¬ 
lions waiting to hear the word of God. 

With the exception of Afghanistan, Nepal, 
Bhutan and Tibet, there is practically no country 
in the world, where it is not legally permissible 
to preach the religion of Jesus Christ. It is esti¬ 
mated that, given missionaries and money, all 
China could be occupied by these workers in the 
next five years. China is exceptionally well or¬ 
ganized for missionary effort. There is the 
China Continuation Committee, which can act as 
a clearing house for Boards wishing to open new 
missions. The large number of missionary socie¬ 
ties makes it possible to draw on existing work 
for experienced leaders to go into new fields, 
while they are replaced with new workers from 
America. 

Where are the men, women (missionary work¬ 
ers) and money to come from? The larger por¬ 
tion must evidently come from the United States 
of America. Here is set forth the great need for 
the one tenth of products in the Christian world 
to sustain the work of teaching the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ in these lands of heathen darkness. 
To whom is God looking to lead in demonstrat¬ 
ing examples of obedience to His blessed word 
and will? Does He look for the heathen to lead 
in obeying His command of giving Him the one 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 57 

tenth of his income? Or does He look for the 
Christian to lead, to whom He says, “Ye are the 
light of the World?” Evidently the Christian 
must lead in obedience or report to God the rea¬ 
son why. 

Russia .is a great country with one hundred 
seventy-eight million nine hundred six thousand 
and five hundred souls, and only nine million 
nine hundred eighty-five thousand or about ten 
million Christians. It is said, that from the ear¬ 
liest times, the mind of this country has been pre¬ 
occupied with religious questions. No other 
country, except the United States, has so many 
different Christian or so many dissenting sects. 
Before the “World War,” 37 per cent of the 
Christian communicants of Europe resided 
within the bounds of the old Russian Empire. 

The great nucleus of Russian Christians were 
adherents of the Eastern Orthodox Church. 
The Eastern Church was also the state Church, 
and closely identified with the governing ma¬ 
chinery of the Czarist regime. The Clergy of 
the Orthodox Church are the Black Clergy (the 
high monastic and celibate priests), and the 
White (married, lay) Clergy. “World Survey.” 


CHAPTER XIV 

THE LARGEST UNOCCUPIED FIELD 

The “World Survey” informs us, that the 
greatest stretch of unevangelized territory in 
the world, lies in the center of South America, 
including the interior of Brazil, Venezuela, Co¬ 
lumbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. 
An irregular tract of land some two thousand 
miles long, and from five hundred to fifteen hun¬ 
dred miles wide, has only two or three mission¬ 
aries. In Northern Brazil there are seven states, 
with populations ranging from that of the State 
of Maine to that of New Jersey, with no foreign 
missionary. In spite of the needs, as great in 
the interior of South America as in China or 
Africa, American Mission Boards (up to Jan., 
1920), did not support one hospital in all the 
Continent. 

The non-Christian world is calling for Gospel 
light. The Presidents of at least five countries: 
Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Bolivia and 
Ecuador, have all asked that Protestant Mission 
work be carried on in their countries. Practi¬ 
cally every mission school in Latin America is 
over-crowded, and could be filled immediately to 
twice its present capacity. 

Space in the present work, forbids giving any¬ 
thing save an inkling, which is only a hint at the 
great needs for the one tenth of the income from 
the resources of the Christian world, to carry 
and disseminate the light of Gospel truth into 
every heathen land, where millions are waiting 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


59 


and calling for it. To show the great possibili¬ 
ties of the Christian Church, we quote almost a 
page from the “Statistical Mirror” of the “World 
Survey.” While we refer to the maps and charts 
of the World Survey, and have permission to use 
them, we shall not be able to do so in this edition, 
but may do so, in a later one. Applying the prin¬ 
ciple of this chart, (the one referred to above) 
not to Protestantism as a whole, but to the reg¬ 
istered membership of the Interchurch bodies, 
as reported to this date, January 29, 1920; it 
would require the tithe of only $1.93 per member 
per day to meet the total local and benevolent 
expenses of the last year, and provide one billion 
dollars for advance ^vork. 

One billion dollars was selected without refer¬ 
ence to the “Interchurch World Survey.” No 
one knows, that this large sum in any sense, rep¬ 
resents the amount needed. It was selected to 
show that thoroughly organized Protestantism 
with each member contributing, could raise this 
amount without special effort. As applied to the 
work of the Church in the past, a billion dollars 
seems beyond the range of the possible; but when 
we investigate the resources our heavenly 
Father has given this Christian nation to draw 
upon, a billion dollars, is a very small sum, for 
Protestantism in America to raise. 

We repeat the same thought to emphasize it: 
Prior to the world war, we could not have rea¬ 
sonably considered such a proposition, our vision 
was too small. But today, with an enlarged vis- 


60 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


ion to see the world’s needs, so appallingly great 
and our prosperity so wonderful, that a billion 
dollars in a single year of time, from the Protest¬ 
ant Christian membership, of our favored coun¬ 
try, is altogether within the range of the possi¬ 
ble. Never in the history of the human family 
has the field been so white unto the harvest, and 
never before has the ability to give vast sums 
been so apparent. 

Last year (1918) the Protestant Churches of 
the United States reported $249,778,536 or the 
tithe of 27 cents per day, expended for local and 
benevolent work. As a total figure, this is a very 
large sum, but when looked upon from the stand¬ 
point of an individual offering, 2 cents and 7 
mills per member per day, is scarcely worthy of 
being considered an offering, nor even a tithe. 

The giving of Protestantism in 1918, is repre¬ 
sented by the darker section of the chart (we 
hope to present this chart in the next edition). 
If the entire Protestant Church reached the av¬ 
erage of the Northern Baptist Convention, 3 
cents and 3 mills per member per day, there 
would be $47,875,515, above the total giving of 
the last year for the advance work. This is 
shown by the lighter section of the Baptist col¬ 
umn. 

If the Methodist Episcopal Church per capita 
standard of 3 cents and 4 mills per member per 
day were reached by all Protestantism, the mar¬ 
gin above the total giving of last year for ad¬ 
vance work would be $56,413,539. 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 61 

If the Protestant Church could be lifted to the 
per capita standard of the Presbyterian Church 
of 5 cents and 6 mills per member per day, there 
would be a margin above the giving of the pre¬ 
vious year for advance work of $259,122,758. 

And if the Protestant membership could be 
lifted to the per capita standard of the Seventh 
Day Adventists, of 11 cents and 6 mills per mem¬ 
ber per day, last year's giving would be main¬ 
tained with a margin of $811,615,547 for new 
work. This Church advocates, and its members 
practice tithing. See the table of comparison be¬ 
tween the Methodist Episcopal Church and the 
Seventh Day Adventist. 

It is an amazing statement that the tithe of 
$1.37 per day or 13 cents and 7 mills per day from 
each member of the Protestant Churches of the 
United States, would maintain all Church ex¬ 
penses, as per last year, and provide for the 
world's need in new work the colossal sum of 
one billion dollars! 

A full tithe from each member as a minimum, 
and an offering according to our ability, will 
hasten the day of the world's redemption. If 
the next great revival throughout the Church, 
could be in the deepening of the consciousness 
of personal responsibility to God, and the sense 
of obligation deepened concerning the world's 
needs; and if the Church throughout its entire 
membership were awakened, so as to be able to 
take in the situation, a billion dollars per year 
would be a very small amount of money for the 


62 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


Protestant Church in the United States to raise 
annually for the advancement of new work, and 
every Church would be established upon a more 
permanent basis. 

CHAPTER XV 

WORLD’S CONDITION—PROGRAMME OF 
GOD’S KINGDOM REJECTED 

The “World Survey” presents a vivid picture 
of the awful condition the world is in; showing 
that the Kingdom of heaven still suffers violence, 
and the violent must take it by force. The con¬ 
ditions obtaining among men, as revealed by the 
a World Survey,” are so depraved that they are 
unthinkable, and therefore, ought to be known 
to every Christian in the world. If the original 
plan of the “Interchurch World’s Survey,” could 
have been carried out, so that these facts might 
have been laid bare, and placed in the home of 
every Christian in the land, I venture the asser¬ 
tion, that if any, there would not have been 
many, among those professing to be the Lord’s 
children truly born of God, who would have re¬ 
fused to establish the Lord’s Treasury in their 
homes. And they would have faithfully and con¬ 
scientiously tithed all their income, and placed 
the one tenth in the Lord’s home treasury, which 
really belongs to Him, to help carry forward the 
work of His kingdom in the world, for the good 
of mankind. 

Christianity is sick; and the world is dying. 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 63 

There is none who can restore sick Christianity 
to normal health, or save a dying world, but the 
great physician, the sympathizing Jesus; and 
His prescription book is the Hol^ Bible, which 
He has given to the Church saying: “Go ye, 
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all 
things, whatsoever I have commanded you; and, 
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
the world,” 

This work must be done through the instru¬ 
mentality of man. In the creation of the world, 
God placed everything in and around the world 
necessary for man. Giving him control, God 
turned the world over to man, making him lord 
and master. And from the dawn of creation, 
the Lord has been gradually unlocking some of 
nature’s storehouses in earth and heaven where 
His treasures are, giving man light, knowledge 
and understanding, that he might go down to 
the adamantine strata of earth, get the silver, 
gold and diamonds stored there; and plunge into 
the sea, and from her depth bring forth the 
costly pearls and other valuables; then command 
the lightning from the clouds to come down and 
do his bidding. And too, innumerable, various 
multiplied productions of earth are given to man, 
with the understanding that one tenth of the in¬ 
come from the use of them all belongs to God. 
And if he fail to give the Lord his part—the love 
of all his heart, soul and mind ; his neighbor as 


64 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


himself, and one tenth of all his income, God is 
displeased with him, and calls him a robber. 

The tithe or one tenth of our income, is not 
only to support the local Church, so as to keep 
the fires of God's love burning in the hearts of 
believers in Bible lands and Christian countries, 
but to send missionary men and women, into 
heathen lands, whose hearts are on fire, with the 
burning love of God, and who have received the 
Commission, “Go, ye, therefore, and teach all na¬ 
tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father* 
and of the Son, and of the holy ghost: Teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world. 

It is this message and this alone, sent by the 
World's Redeemer, through the Holy Bible and 
commissioned men and women, to teach all na¬ 
tions, that will restore sick Christianity, to nor¬ 
mal health, and save a dying world from sin and 
death. 

There is a crying call for Christian teachers 
in nearly all of the non-Christian world. Oh! 
If all of those who profess to love our Lord and 
Savior, Jesus Christ, could but know the actual 
condition of the non-Christian millions of souls 
in Africa, China, India, Russia, Japan, South 
America, including Latin America and the many 
islands of the sea—If the Christian world really 
knew, I believe they would be willing to obey the 
Lord, and give Him the one tenth of their income 
which belongs to Him, to help ameliorate the 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


65 


condition of the millions of souls for whom 
Christ died, the same as He did for us. 

CHAPTER XVI 

THE NEED OF CO-OPERATION IN 
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 

The hope of the world lies in the proper train¬ 
ing of children. The educated in the Christian 
world know that the causes which kill a lament¬ 
able number of children in infancy also maim 
and handicap thousands of those who survive. 
We must convey this knowledge to the non- 
Christian world. 

Some one has estimated that from six to 
twelve million American children are victims of 
malnutrition, that is they are not getting enough 
of the right kind of food—good food. There are 
areas in the non-Christian world, where all the 
children are undernourished. 

Mothers do not know how to be good mothers 
by instinct; they must be taught, even Christian 
mothers in civilized lands; then it is certainly 
reasonable to conclude that heathen women 
should be taught how to be good mothers. 

The “World Survey” tells us that “half the 
fight for a better world is won, if the children 
are fairly equipped in body, mind and soul for 
the tasks of life.” This equipment prepares the 
children to be good mothers and fathers, who 
will surely look after the welfare of their chil¬ 
dren. These good mothers and fathers will need 


66 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


the help of the teacher in the school room and the 
preacher in the pulpit. Our Lord pronounces 
a blessing upon those who are persecuted for 
righteousness’ sake, and tells them that “theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven.” The “World Survey” 
tells the children who are properly equipped in 
body, mind and soul that “theirs is the future of 
the earth;” and that if we will show them the 
way to it—“theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

Early Marriages Mean Degeneration. 

Child marriage, like every other thing that 
lowers the status of woman, is costly not alone 
to the woman but to the race. Child marriage 
means the breeding of children by immature 
women, undeveloped in body and unready in 
mind. The result is ill health and unhappiness 
for women. They grow old too soon. They 
share little in the comforts and adventures of 
life. They create little bodies, and they do not 
create homes where children may grow healthy 
and wise. 

Through Central Africa, the marriage age for 
women is from ten to fourteen. In North Af¬ 
rica, the marriage age for women is from nine to 
fifteen. In India there are two and one-half mil¬ 
lion wives under ten years old. In Japan, the 
age is rising. The marriage age for women is 
now around twenty. The change can be laid to 
Christian influence, and to general recognition, 
that to allow the development of the mother be¬ 
fore marriage is the greatest insurance against 
producing a feeble race. Japan has risen higher 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 67 

in Christian matrimonial civilization than any 
of the countries named above. Indeed, she is 
coming toward the light, and is making rapid 
progress on all lines. The open Bible and “The 
Home and Church Tithing System” established 
in her homes, churches and schools, would be an 
asset, the value of which, is beyond estimation. 

Whenever any nation, race or individual fails 
to acknowledge God's right (as the Creator, Re¬ 
deemer and Preserver of mankind), by withhold¬ 
ing from Him the one tenth of income which He 
demands, and which rightfully belongs to Him, 
they are accused as robbers, and He says, “Ye 
are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, 
even this whole nation." 

CHAPTER XVII 
WHO WAS MELCHIZEDEK? 

He is a great character, and as mysterious as 
he is great. Like John the Baptist, he seems to 
have been a forerunner of Christ. John came 
baptizing, and saying: “Repent ye for the king¬ 
dom of heaven is at handand when asked who 
he was, said: “I am the voice of one crying in 
the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, 
and make His paths straight." 

Melchizedek came with blessings of peace and 
consolation for the “father of the faithful," 
when he was returning in the name of the Lord, 
from a victorious battle where he had slaugh¬ 
tered the wicked kings of the East. John came 


68 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

ordained to preach the Gospel, and to announce 
to the world that “the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand.” Melchizedek came to present to the 
Church in the world, a new order of Priesthood 
and clothed with kingly and priestly authority, 
he administered the Sacrament, bread and wine, 
to Abraham, and blessed him, as great as he was, 
for Paul gives us to understand, that he was 
even greater than Abraham. 

The Bible tells us that he was king of Salem 
and priest of the Most High God; and other glo¬ 
rious things are said of him. Heb. 7 chapter. 
Matthew Henry says, that the rabbis and most 
of our rabbinical writers conclude that Melchiz¬ 
edek was Shem, son of Noah, who was king and 
priest of those that descended from him, accord¬ 
ing to the patriarchal model. But this is not 
at all probable; for why should his name be 
changed without a mention being made of it, as 
was in the case of Jacob, when his name was 
changed to Israel? And what caused Shem to 
settle in Canaan ? 

Many Christian writers have thought that this 
was an appearance of the Son of God himself; 
that our Lord Jesus was known to Abraham by 
this name, while Hagar afterwards calfed Him 
by another name. Gen. 16:3. But the same 
writer says: “The most received opinion is, that 
Melchizedek was a Canaanite Prince that 
reigned in Salem, and kept up the true religion 
there; but, if so, why should he appear here only 
in all the story of Abraham, why Abraham 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 69 

should have altars of his own, and not attend the 
altars of his neighbor Melchizedek, who was 
greater than he, seems unaccountable.” 

There seems no more reasonable ground for 
questioning that Melchizedek was a descendant 
of Canaan than there is for questioning that 
Elijah was a descendant of Gilead or Naphtali; 
so far as records go, he has no beginning of days 
nor end of life. There is every reason for be¬ 
lieving, however, that Melchizedek is a descend¬ 
ant of Canaan, whose father is Ham. 

Looking over the wicked descendants of Ca¬ 
naan, God found in the heart of the king of 
Salem, such a perfect order of Priesthood, that 
He said to the second person in the adorable 
Trinity, the Son of God: “The Lord hath sworn, 
and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever 
after the order of Melchizedek. Psa. 110:4.” 

And hence Jesus is our great High Priest to¬ 
day, and will be forevermore, after the order of 
Melchizedek, the Canaanitish king, and priest of 
the most high God. Let us remember that what¬ 
ever curse may have been pronounced upon Ca¬ 
naan on account of his father's sins, the blood 
of Jesus Christ is sufficient, for it cleanseth from 
all sin. 


CHAPTER XVIII 

HOW TO TEACH TITHING 

If Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, ought 
we not to pay tithes to God? Certainly we 
ought, for God has commanded us to bring all 
the tithes into the storehouse, and prove Him, if 
he will not open the windows of heaven and pour 
us out such a blessing, we shall not have room 
enough to receive it. 

How are the people to know that God requires 
of them to give His righteous cause one tenth 
of their income? The preachers and teachers 
must instruct the people from the pulpits, school 
rooms, publicly from the platform, and pri¬ 
vately in the homes, whenever and wherever 
there is an opportunity. 

These lessons must be taught the people—that 
is, the children must be taught in the day schools, 
in the Sunday Schools, and in all the religious 
and benevolent assemblies. 

But the first, and most important contribution 
to be made, is to give our hearts and consecrate 
our lives to God. 

When this has been conscientiously done, it 
will be an easy matter for us to give one tenth 
of our income to the Lord. 

We must think of the heathen, and speak to 
our friends of their condition. The children 
must be taught to think of the heathen, and 
sneak to their friends about the millions of little 



HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


71 


children who are dying daily for the want of 
natural and spiritual food and clothing. 

Give God your heart, with a consecrated life, 
believe and tithe, and blessings shall come upon 
you, more brilliantly than the sparkling rays of 
diamonds held up to the splendor of the meridian 
sun. 

“Thy word is true from the beginning; and 
every one of thy righteous judgments endureth 
forever. Psa. 119:160. ,> Let the Lord’s treasury 
be in every home; and one tenth of all the in¬ 
come to that home honestly placed in that treas¬ 
ury for religious and benevolent appeals to the 
members of the home. Let this be done with a 
pure heart. “In hope of eternal life, which God, 
that can not lie, promised before the world be¬ 
gan.” Titus 1:2. 


We know there are some who do not believe 
in paying their honest debts to men, and there 
are others who do not believe in paying their 
honest debts to God, even when He calls upon 
them to bring all the tithes into the storehouse, 
that there may be meat in his house, promising 
to open the windows of heaven and pour out 
great blessings upon them—still they do not be¬ 
lieve. But this should not discourage those who 
read these lines, for the Apostle Paul said to the 
Church at Rome—“For what if some did not be¬ 
lieve? Shall their unbelief make the faith of 
God without effect? God forbid; yea, let God 
be found true, but every man a liar.” Rom. 3.3-4. 



72 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHINC 


‘Tor What Saith the Scripture?” 

“Abraham believed God, and it was counted 
unto him for righteousness.” Rom. 4:3. And 
Jesus says: “Therefore, whosoever heareth these 
saying of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him 
unto a wise man, which built his house upon a 
rock. And the rain descended and the floods 
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a 
rock.” Matt. 7:24-25. 

Believe and be happy: Rejoice, tithe, trust God 
and wait patiently for Him, He will surely come 
in due time, and you shall see His coming, if you 
faint not. He will keep His word. God is true, 
faithful and righteous altogether—Praise the 
Lord, 0 my soul, let all that is within me, praise 
His holy name! Praise ye the Lord. 

Open up your financial account with God to¬ 
day. And keep the Covenant in some safe place 
where you can see it often. Sign the pledge now 
and give the Lord an interest in all you have. 
He is a good and safe Pilot who will steer your 
business craft clear of all shoals and rocks into 
the haven of great prosperity. 


CHAPTER XIX 
THE TITHER’S PLEDGE 

Believing that it is my duty to give to the Lord 
my God in obedience the entire service of my 
life, I hereby covenant to Him one tenth interest 
in all of my affairs, so as to entitle Him to one- 
tenth of all my wages, increase or profit, and 
promise to faithfully set aside in the Lord’s 
Treasury in my home, systematically and regu¬ 
larly to the best of my ability, the one tenth 
which belongs to Him as a holy consecrated fund. 
And that out of this fund I am to get money to 
meet the demands made upon me and my family 
for my Church and all benevolences. And when¬ 
ever my Church, through its pastor or his repre¬ 
sentative, issues a call for all the tithes to be 
brought into the Lord’s storehouse, I will turn 
all the tithes remaining in the Lord’s Home 
Treasury into His Church Treasury; and return¬ 
ing to my home, I will continue the tithing sys¬ 
tem as before, and will trust the Lord for His 
blessing according to His promise. 

Signature . 

Date..P. 0. 

State. 






MEMBERSHIP AND TOTAL CHURCH EXPENSES. RECORD FOR 15 YEARS. 


1- 

If 


• A 

0 <yjsfa 

no ro i*>i l^no cfcp) no 

« T 

14 

^*0 (M>sx> X \ n< °0 

W rj" nr)T0Vv) 1 n^O ^ rvf n> 

1 

^ ^nS\nv^s\ 

Os fc^Os <KOsV<^ 

NnnN W\n W\ n \N\ 



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n ^ ^ N-s ^ 'W rs n 

X ^ >S V \\ ^ ^ Z*'} COrs 

^rHcS^r^fSiNf^^ 

3 | 

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s 5 Vjhs 0 v N 

^ ^ ^ V <t* **> T>* v$ V qK'C5 Os"*^ 

s ^Vm ^v«^' 


^ S\^^\sS • 0 >-S ^ 

^ ^ ro^ ^ ^ < 3 S^^'V>° 

> '^^r^ 4 oN>NCpV{ 

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^ VN N>s's's\\ n > sN 


The above statistical items are better understood when studied from a graph. See following page. 
















HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


75 

























































76 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 
















































HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 77 

The 1913 per capita loss in the record of the 
Adventists was recovered the next year, while 
it required three years for Methodism to recover 
the 1908 per capita loss, and the per capita of 
1911 was not regained until 1918. It will be ob¬ 
served that the per capita giving of the Metho¬ 
dist Episcopal Church during the past fifteen 
years has remained practically constant, the per 
capita for 1918 being only slightly in advance of 
that of 1904. 

The record of the Adventists, slightly below 
that of the Methodists in 1904, shows an increase 
each year except in 1913, and in 1918 the per 
capita giving is more than four times their aver¬ 
age of fifteen years ago. The Adventist record 
grows out of the tithe as a regular part of 
church worship. A similar statistical record, 
when made into a graph, can be used in a very 
practical manner for local churches or for other 

denominations. Page 76 provides a suitable 
blank for this purpose. It is commonly known, 
and not to their discredit, that the Seventh Day 
Adventists are not rich as a church. Their mem¬ 
bership is made up very largely from the great 
middle class. Hence their per capita wealth and 
consequent income would hardly measure up to 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. No invidious 
comparison is here intended but an attempt to 
get at the facts. What is the truth? Look at 
the graph. 

If the Methodist Episcopal Church had given 
as much per capita for all Church expenses as 


78 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

the Seventh Day Adventists gave, she would 
have paid $163,175,261 in a single year instead 
of the $47,074,301, or enough to take care of all 
her church expenses and $116,100,960 to apply 
on her Centenary subscription, thus paying in a 
single year the whole five-year quota. 

CHAPTER XX 

SYMMETRICAL EDUCATION 

Too much stress can not be placed on the idea 
of a proper and thorough education. By it we 
obtain the best results in developing perfect 
manhood and womanhood. This education should 
begin generations before we enter the world. If 
our ancestors could have been begotten and con¬ 
ceived by symmetrically trained characters, for 
generations that have passed into the great be¬ 
yond, we would have been a far more civilized 
and christianized people today. Lord Nelson 
once said: “England needs more mothers.” He 
might as truthfully have said: the world needs 
more mothers, and more fathers, in the truest 
sense of these words. But, as has already been 
stated, women do not make good mothers by 
instinct, they must be trained; the same is true 
with regard to men—they must be trained to 
become good fathers. Education in the care and 
feeding of children must be part of the message 
urged upon all, and especially must this instruc¬ 
tion be given to the heathen world. 

There must be more hospitals and more doc- 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 79 

tors. The Christian ideals of the dignity of 
woman, the sacredness of motherhood, and the 
divine duties of fatherhood, must be instilled in 
the minds of the people, through the training of 
the children in the Christian as well as in the 
heathen world. Childhood is the door, through 
which we must enter the real manhood and wo¬ 
manhood of the world. 

If the heathen are to be civilized, evangelized, 
christianized and all the world prosper; the 
children must be trained in the secular, as well 
as in religious schools, trained to understand 
that God is the original and rightful owner of all 
things, and that one tenth of the income of the 
world belongs to Him, and if we fail to give it to 
Him, we bring upon ourselves his curse, and fiery 
indignation. 

The Bible and “The Home and Church Tithing 
System” should have an established place in 
homes, and in all schools, secular as well as re¬ 
ligious; from the Kindergarten, through the 
common schools, Normal schools, Academies, 
High Schools, Colleges and Universities. This 
course of training would give to the world evenly 
balanced minds. The Encyclopaedic Dictionary 
tells us that education (derived from the Latin 
word educo) means to educate—that the word 
properly means, “the educing, leading out, or 
drawing out the latent powers of an individual.” 
This authority also says: “From the philosophic 
point of view everyone is educated, his powers 
being developed for good or evil by all he sees, 


80 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


hears, feels or does. Education in this sense, be¬ 
gins when one enters the world, and continues 
as long as he is in it.” The Lexicographer might 
have said with equal propriety, that one’s educa¬ 
tion begins generations before he enters the 
world, and after he arrives it continues as long 
as he is in the world. If it were not so, there 
would be but little difference between children 
of educated Christian parents in civilization, and 
the children of the heathen world. 

The countries representing the most enlight¬ 
ened civilization, are only partially civilized, and 
partially educated and Christianized, from the 
very fact that our system of civilizing and edu¬ 
cating man is wrong. We spend billions of dol¬ 
lars on the development of the natural man, rep¬ 
resented by the intellect—one of the faculties of 
the human soul or mind by which it receives or 
comprehends the ideas communicated to it by the 
senses or by perception, or other means, as dis¬ 
tinguished from the power to feel and to will; 
the power or faculty to perceive objects in their 
relations; the power to judge and comprehend; 
also the capacity for higher forms of knowledge 
as distinguished from the power to perceive and 
imagine; while the spiritual man, represented by 
the heart, is almost entirely neglected and left 
dormant. 


CHAPTER XXI 

SYMMETRICAL EDUCATION CONTINUED 

That man is a compound being, is recognized 
by the Apostle Paul, for he says: “There is a 
natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” I 
Cor. 15.44. Man represents a kingdom, whose 
throne is set up in the heart. Now as to what 
course he takes, and what he accomplishes in 
life, depends largely upon what king or influence 
sits upon that throne and what system of train¬ 
ing he passes through. 

The heart is regarded as the seat of all the fac¬ 
ulties, capacities, inclinations, affections, pas¬ 
sions, in fact, it is considered the seat of the 
whole moral character of man, even the intellect 
acts under the influence of the king who rules 
the heart. Hence, in that wonderful sermon on 
the mount, when our Lord laid out before his 
disciples, the great field of opportunity, and 
work to be accomplished, He showed them that 
the flood-gates of temptation to aggrandizment 
were open to them, which had already swallowed 
up the Gentiles, he said: “But seek ye first the 
kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all 
these things shall be added unto you.” Matt. 
6.33. If the great educators of the civilized 
world could get a vision broad enough to see 
that our present system is wrong and would re¬ 
solve to correct it, in the next ten years civiliza¬ 
tion and Christianity would doubtless make more 
than one hundred per cent advancement. 


82 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


In arranging the curriculum, for the educing 
or drawing out the latent powers of the natural 
man; for every secular text book laid down 
(commencing with the Bible), there should be a 
religious text-book, for the educing or drawing 
out of the latent powers of the spiritual man, so 
that these two characters, the natural man, rep¬ 
resented by the intellect, and the spiritual man, 
represented by the heart, may be school-mates, 
through all of their different studies, co-workers 
in all of their business life, so that it may be said, 
truthfully, that they have been harmonious stu¬ 
dents, workers and companions from the womb 
to the grave. 

When this system of training shall have been 
established, the day will not be far distant, when 
we shall be able to train up a child in the way he 
should go, and be assured that when he is old, he 
will not depart from it. Pro. 22.6. We can then 
hope for the broadest, fullest and highest devel¬ 
opment of men in this life—To show that under 
the present system we are only partially civilized 
and partially educated—ever since we have been 
called civilized, we have given five days' school¬ 
ing per week to our children's intellect or natu¬ 
ral attributes, while we have only given one day's 
schooling per week to their heart-culture, or 
spiritual attributes; and from childhood to old 
age, 5/7 per week and 1/7 per week is about the 
ratio of education we have been giving these at¬ 
tributes of our children respectively. And yet, 
when our so-called civilized and christianized 



HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 83 

children go through the schools, and graduate 
from the Colleges and Universities, we are as¬ 
tounded to discover that we have turned out so 
many skeptics, atheists and infidels. This all 
happens,, because our system is wrong; we edu¬ 
cate the intellect, and neglect the heart, when all 
the faculties of the soul should receive the same 
training and culture. 

While the natural intellect is being educed, 
drawn out and developed, the spiritual intellect 
or heart culture should be educed, drawn out 
and developed, so that their harmonious influ¬ 
ence combined might form the character of per¬ 
fect manhood or womanhood. If the natural in¬ 
tellect be educated—highly cultured, and the 
spiritual intellect, heart culture, neglected, it is 
to be regretted, almost as much if not more, as 
if both had been neglected, for the character 
they combine to mould will either be a weakling, 
or be led entirely away from God. But, if the 
faculties of the soul are trained, educated and 
refined, side by side, and step by step, and the 
natural intellect is inclined to yield to the 
“tempter,” the influence of every other faculty of 
the soul, rising from a cultured heart, will res¬ 
cue the natural intellect, saying “Come back, this 
is the way, come back and walk herein.” As was 
intended by the Creator, when the faculties of 
the soul are properly educated, drawn out and 
fully developed, they will be helpful to each other 
in moulding great characters who will be fully 
able to “Train up a child in the way he should 


84 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


go;” so that “when he is old, he will not depart 
from it.” Prov. 22.6. When this system of edu¬ 
cation shall have been established, the Christian 
world will be trained to give the Lord the one 
tenth, which properly belongs to Him. 

When the Bible, “The Home and Church Tith¬ 
ing System,” and other religious text-books, 
shall have been given their proper places in the 
schools, Colleges and Universities, as outlined 
above, we may look for the perfecting of the 
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
edifying of the body of Christ: Till we come 
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowl¬ 
edge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, 
unto the measure of the stature of the full¬ 
ness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more 
cnildren, tossed to and fro, and carried about 
with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of 
men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie 
in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in 
love, may grow up into Him in all things, which 
is the head even Christ: From whom the whole 
body fitly joined together and compacted by that 
which every joint supplieth, according to the ef¬ 
fectual working in the measure of every part, 
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying 
of itself in love. Eph. 4.12-16. 


CHAPTER XXII 

TITHING, A NECESSITY IN HOME AND 

CHURCH 

As the sun, the great luminary, through his 
rays, sends out light and heat to all the planets 
in his system; so the Son of Righteousness, 
through the Bible and the Holy Spirit, by means 
of the Gospel ministry, missionaries and sound 
religious literature, is sending spiritual light and 
heat into almost every land and country upon 
this sphere. 

Here “The Home and Church Tithing System” 
enters as a hand-maid of the Bible to distribute 
to the Church, and through it to the world in 
general, selected passages from this blessed 
book, to prove that it is not only God's plan that 
He have the use of one tenth of the products of 
the world to aid in establishing His kingdom 
for the good of man, but it is an absolute com¬ 
mand that it be given, and in the event that it is 
not given, his people and the nations are held 
accountable, for He says: “Ye are cursed with a 
curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole 
nation.” Mai. 3.9. 

There is no work for the Church so important 
as the mission fields—that is her special work. 
And as to foreign missions, Jesus is the first for¬ 
eign missionary the world has any record of, for 
He left his country, his own heavenly kingdom, 
clothed himself in human form, suffered thirty 
and three years, among wicked men and tempt- 


86 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


ing devils, died an ignominious death, was 
buried, on the third day he rose from the dead, 
and He ascended on high to open the gates of 
heaven for every human being. And He said, if 
any man will be my disciple, let him deny him¬ 
self, take up his cross and follow me. The Church 
has a commission from Jesus, through the Apos¬ 
tle—“Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations.” 
This commission is extant, and will continue so, 
until the Gospel shall have been preached to 
every creature; then, we are told the end will 
come. 

In 1915 while pastoring a church in the City 
of New Bern, N. C., there was a spiritual awak¬ 
ening, and the Ministerial Union invited the au¬ 
thor to read a paper on the subject of “The Evils 
of Our City and How Best to Deal with Them.” 
He said “Mr. President and Brethren: the sub¬ 
ject for discussion is so deep and multifarious 
in character, that I might with propriety spend 
the short time allotted me for this paper, in an 
apology for promising to write on such an intri¬ 
cate subject, without more time than was given 
for its preparation. 

The evils of our city are so many and varied, 
that only our heavenly Father knows, and can 
point out how “best” to deal with them. To un¬ 
dertake to name them, would consume your val¬ 
uable time, without corresponding good results. 
Suffice it to say, that the evils of our city, like 
the evils of all other cities exist, they are here— 
we daily come in contact with them, and to deal 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 87 

with them logically, we must find their source, 
and if possible prevent them from existing; 
when this shall have been done, we shall have no 
more evils to complain of, for the lamb and the 
lion shall lie down together, and rise up without 
disturbing the peace of the other. 

In the final analysis, the source of evils in our 
city, in common with all evils throughout the 
world, is the human heart. For we read in man’s 
eternal and infinite guide, “But those things 
which proceed out of the mouth come forth from 
the heart; and they defile the man. For out of 
the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adul¬ 
teries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blas¬ 
phemies: These are the things which defile a 
man.” Matt. 15.18-20. 

And again our Lord said: “For from within, 
out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, 
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covet¬ 
ousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an 
evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these 
evil things come from within, and defile the man. 
Mark 7.21-23.” Now, if it be true that we have 
found the source of evil to be the heart, then the 
thing for us to do is to seek the cleansing and 
purifying of the hearts of the people. 

As ambassadors of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, it seems incumbent upon us to urge, both 
by precept and example, the absolute necessity 
of regeneration of heart, by repentance, and 
faith in God through the blood, and atonement 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. This change of heart 


88 home and church tithing 

will discipline the powers of the will and affec¬ 
tions of the individual, so as to bring into sub¬ 
jection to the will of God all the faculties of the 
soul, of both the spiritual and physical man. 
This process, if faithfully carried out, will give 
to us a righteous people, healthy and strong. 

We are finding fault because of the wayward¬ 
ness of our young people, which greatly multiply 
the evils of our city, when really they are not 
wholly responsible for the lives they are living. 
Very few, if any, have been properly trained, 
hence, we are having wayward young people, 
because we have wayward old people—wayward 
fathers and mothers. To get water higher than 
its source, there must be some way to force it. 
The only way to get children to grow up into a 
higher manhood and womanhood than their pa¬ 
rents, is to lead them up through a proper course 
of training. 

When the Children of Israel did evil again in 
the sight of the Lord He punished them by de¬ 
livering them into the hand of the Philistines 
forty years. And at the same time arranging 
for their deliverance, He selected from among 
the Danites one Manoah and his wife, who should 
beget, conceive, bring forth and rear up a child 
to be a great leader and judge in Israel, who for 
strength and wisdom, should be a type of Christ, 
and begin to deliver his people from the hand of 
the Philistines. This man and his wife were 
doubtless selected because they were scrupu¬ 
lously good and obedient, willing to follow the 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 89 

Lord’s mandates to the letter. The child Samson 
was to be a Nazerite from the womb, and there¬ 
fore his parents must be prepared before he is 
begotten or conceived. Hence the Angel said to 
the woman, “Now therefore beware, I pray thee, 
and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not 
any unclean thing.” Her spiritual person was 
not only to be protected and preserved, but her 
physical person as well. She must breathe and 
think for a holy child of extraordinary strength 
of mind and body, before it could breathe or 
think for itself. She must eat and drink for it, 
therefore, she must beware, lest she should take 
something into her own system that would ad¬ 
minister to the innocent unborn babe—a poison, 
and thus weaken his intellectual and physical 
strength. 

Brethren, to our mind, the best method of 
dealing with evils, not only of our city, but 
everywhere throughout the world, is cited above 
—to insist uncompromisingly on the regenera¬ 
tion of heart, which will discipline the powers of 
the will and affection, so as to bring into subjec¬ 
tion to the will of God, all the faculties of the 
soul, causing the individual to become a new 
creature in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then we shall 
have more fathers and mothers like Manoah and 
his wife, who will be scrupulously obedient, and 
for the sake of their unborn children, will “drink 
no wine nor strong drink,” neither “eat any un¬ 
clean thing.” When we shall have through a 
symmetrical education moulded such characters, 


90 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


the Church will not bear the name of robbing 
God, but will lead and train the nations of the 
world to honor Him, by bringing all the tithes 
into His storehouse, that there may be meat in 
His house. 

CHAPTER XXIII 

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH AMERICA? 

By Dr. Charles M. Shelton, Ed. Christian Herald 

Just as we closed the last chapter in this little 
book on April 15, 1922, the above named paper, 
if not the greatest, certainly one of the greatest 
religious journals in the world, with over ten 
million subscribers, comes to our desk as it al¬ 
ways does full of valuable information, some of 
which we hope to perpetuate by its addition to 
this little volume. Under the heading of sym¬ 
metrical education, we have placed a bill of in¬ 
dictment against the Christian world, as having 
the wrong system of education. We have all been 
educated under it, and although a few have ad¬ 
vanced far enough to see that the system is 
wrong, we cannot change it at once. But, by 
continual agitation, prayer and faith in God, the 
change will come. We claim, that the present 
system is one-sided; if the claim were not true, 
the great scholar, author, editor and preacher of 
the Gospel, Dr. Chas. M. Sheldon, could never 
have found material to write such an amazing 
document as appears in the Christian Herald to¬ 
day under the caption “What is the Matter with 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 91 

America?’' He says in part: “One answer to 
this question is, ‘Nothing.’ Another answer is, 
‘Everything.’ Somewhere between these two 
answers there may be some sort of an answer 
that will fit the question. The attempt that is 
here being made will not satisfy the superficial 
optimist. Neither will it gratify the rabid pes¬ 
simist. But perhaps there are enough other 
Americans who will agree to some of the conclu¬ 
sions reached in this discussion. It is not easy 
to diagnose the sickness of an elephant, neither 
is it always easy to do the same thing for a baby. 
And one reason for the difficulty is the inability 
of the elephant and the baby to tell the doctor 
just where the pain is. If America could only 
speak for herself we might be able to know just 
what to prescribe. In the absence of any such 
intelligent voice of the patient, and in the pres¬ 
ence of a multitude of doctors who do not agree 
among themselves concerning what is the mat¬ 
ter, it may not seem an act of presumption on 
the part of this particular practitioner who has 
not been called into consultation, to say what he 
thinks is the matter. And inasmuch as it is not 
good practice to talk about the disease without 
at least suggesting a remedy, it is to be hoped 
that before we are through, the remedy will cure 
the disease, and cost a good deal less. 

Our first criticism of America is that she is 
not spending God’s money as she ought. There 
is a verse in the Bible which says: “The gold 
is mine, and the silver is mine, saith Jehovah of 


92 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


hosts.” (Haggai 2:8.) That is an economic 
statement which the human race has never taken 
seriously, not even Christian disciples. It is not 
a theological statement, it is economic. And if 
it were obeyed as an economic law, it would 
change the pages of history as no other one thing 
obeyed by mankind. 

Practically this is the way America disobeys 
this economic law of the use of God’s wealth. 
According to the cold financial figures of Uncle 
Sam’s bookkeeper in the Internal Revenue office, 
America spends annually the following sums of 
God’s gold and silver for these items which the 
language of the Internal Revenue calls “luxu¬ 
ries” or “non-essentials:” For face powder, cos¬ 
metics and perfumes, $750,000,000; for cigarets, 
cigars, tobacco and snuff, $2,110,000,000; for jew¬ 
elry, $500,000,000; for joy rides, movies and 
races, $3,000,000,000; for furs, $350,000,000; for 
chewing gum, $50,000,000; for ice-cream $250,- 
000,000; for luxurious service, $3,000,000,000; 
and other items, making a round total of $22,- 
000,000,000 spent by America for what Uncle 
Sam himself, the financial custodian of the 
pocket-book of America, calls “luxuries.” 

Over against this way of spending God’s 
money, is the item of the amount spent by Amer¬ 
ica—not voluntarily, but by compulsory taxation 
from which the citizen cannot escape—the sum 
of $1,000,000,000 for education. I failed to pass 
in higher mathematics when I graduated from 
my university, but I did get far enough to know 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


93 


how to subtract $1,000,000,000 from 22 billion,— 
the remainder is 21,000,000,000. And that is the 
difference between what America spends for 
“luxuries” compared with what she spends for 
education—and the expense for education is 
compulsory. It is interesting while we are going 
to school to note that the amount America spends 
annually for face powder and its accompani¬ 
ments is almost as much as she spends for her 
entire educational system. Looks as if America 
thought about as much of the outside of her head 
as of the inside. As a matter of astounding fact, 
the amount actually spent by America for face 
paint annually exceeds all she pays for the sal¬ 
aries of the teachers in all the high schools who 
are trying to get something into the heads of 
pupils between times while they are applying the 
paint on the surface. 

I do not know what the expense account of 
Massachusetts or New York is, but I do know 
that of my own state of Kansas. The least said 
about Kansas the better, as the boy said when his 
teacher in history told him to tell all he knew 
about Nero. That is, the least said about her 
when it comes to telling the teacher how she 
spends God's money. For this is the way she 
absconds annually with Jehovah's gold and sil¬ 
ver, listed by Uncle Sam as “non essentials:” 
For cigars, cigarettes and tobacco, $35,400,000; 
for theater and motion picture tickets, $8,273,- 
300; for jewelry, $5,134,160; for soft drinks, ice¬ 
cream, etc., $4,860,420. Total, $53,667,420. This 



94 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


is more than three times the amount Kansas 
spends for all public schools, rural and city, in¬ 
cluding high schools and state colleges. The 
total amount of Jehovah's gold and silver that 
Kansas spends on her entire education from 
compulsory taxation is $17,070,394. And Kansas 
has always boasted of her great wealth in food 
production, and is listed number eight in the 
forty-eight states with a per capita wealth of 
$2,652. 

Is it any wonder after looking at the state 
bookkeeper's account that Kansas has fallen to 
number 27 in the scale of her expenditures to 
maintain her educational system, as shown by 
the Ayres investigation under the Russell Sage 
Foundation? And all the excuse she can give is 
her short terms of seven months for rural 
schools, cutting down salaries of teachers and 
general up-keep. It would be an exceedingly in¬ 
teresting item to guess over, if the American 
people had to pay for their education by volun¬ 
tary giving of Jehovah's gold and silver, instead 
of having it extracted from their pockets by the 
state. Class in Arithmetic in America, stand up! 
If America spends Twenty-two times as much 
for “non-essentials" as she spends for education, 
and spends the Twenty-two times as much vol¬ 
untarily for the “non-essentials" as she spends 
by enforced taxation for education, how much 
would America spend for education if it were 
left to her to do it voluntarily? 


CHAPTER XXIV 

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH AMERICA? 

Continued 

While the class is figuring that out, it may be 
in order to raise another question which seems 
pertinent while we are talking about the wrong 
way America spends Jehovah’s money. How 
many citizens are there in this country who 
know intelligently how Uncle Sam spends Je¬ 
hovah’s gold and silver which the citizens pay 
into the National Treasury? Little Mary went 
to church with her Grandmother for the first 
time. Mary had been to the movies often, and 
had sat on the edge of the seat while the thrills 
turned loops up and down the ladder of her back¬ 
bones. The preliminaries of the Church service 
were very dull and uninteresting. Finally came 
the morning offering. Mary put in the penny 
her Grandmother gave her to deposit in the 
plate, but as she did so she whispered to her, 
“Grandma, what do we get for our money?” 

It is in order for the American citizen to ask 
Uncle Sam, who bags some of our money when 
there is an open income tax season, “What do we 
get for our money?” Did you ever get a state¬ 
ment from Uncle Sam, telling you how your 
money was being spent? When the plumber puts 
a washer into my kitchen pump, I always get an 
itemized account of the affair, including the 
number of washers, and so forth. But when 
Uncle Sam subtracts my traveling expense from 


96 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

my salary, and allows me my board on the Pull¬ 
man as exempt, but charges me with a personal 
and taxable item the minute I begin to eat in a 
New York hotel, and finally puts my modest lit¬ 
tle sum into the vaults or wherever they keep it 
in Washington, I never get any personal state¬ 
ment from Mr. Mellon telling me how he is going 
to use a part of my hard-won salary. I think I 
ought to know what he is doing with it, and if 
enough other income tax patients will join with 
me, I will make a trip to Washington (counting 
the traveling expense on the train as exempt) 
to ask the National Treasurer how about that 
$29.41 I paid in last quarter? How much of it 
goes into a new battle-ship to take the place of 
those scrapped by the Conference on the Limita¬ 
tion of Armament? 

It is true that now and then about once or 
twice a year a casual item strays into the Asso¬ 
ciated Press telling the old man—Ultimate Con¬ 
sumer—where his money goes. Say something 
like this: “The United States spent $52,000,000,- 
000 for war in 131 years, according to figures 
compiled from reports of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, which is 78.5 per cent, of all moneys 
disbursed, the total amount of all disbursements 
from 1789 to 1920 being $66,728,209,499.” The 
words “for War” are the words used by the na¬ 
tional treasurer in summing up where the money 
went, including all military equipment, pensions, 
hospitals, salaries and wages of all army and 
navy men, and everything belonging to the mili- 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


97 


tary expenses of America. Also now and then 
we get an official statement from Uncle Sam that 
of late years over 90 per cent of the taxpayers’ 
money goes into the war chest. But old man 
Ultimate does not always read the papers, and it 
is safe to say that most of the time he does not 
know what he is getting for his money. We 
wonder if it would make any difference with him 
if he did? But some of us who have to work 
hard to make a decent living would like to have 
an itemized account of what is being done with 
Jehovah’s gold and silver. 

Over the stately front of the great Corn Ex¬ 
change at the top of Ludgate Hill, London, close 
by St. Paul’s Cathedral, are these words stand¬ 
ing out in clear relief in letters of stone: “The 
Earth is the Lord’s and the Fullness Thereof.” 
It is another Bible statement of an economic 
truth, and it stands there near the great Bank 
of England, a compelling and challenging voice 
as to Jehovah’s ownership of man’s wealth. And 
yet they gamble like the devil inside the build¬ 
ing, regardless of the claim of Jehovah on the 
outside. But does America do any better? And 
may it not be probable that the reason why some 
pulpits are echoing on account of empty audi¬ 
ence rooms instead of on account of heroic utter¬ 
ances to challenge America for the theft of Je¬ 
hovah’s wealth is because there are no Haggai’s 
in them to tell the American people, “Will ye rob 
God? yet ye have robbed me.” 

Wanted-Rev. Mr. Haggai to fill the 



98 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

pulpit and the pew of the Church. He does not 
need to be a D.D., just plain Haggai will do. 

The next thing that is the matter with Amer¬ 
ica, is its childish and impotent handling of the 
industrial situation. The settlement of the indus¬ 
trial problem is as easy as the Golden Rule. But 
the Golden Rule in the market place in America 
has been interpreted by both Capital and Labor 
in terms of how much gold each side can get, in¬ 
stead of how much each side can give. As an 
illustration of what .is the matter with America 
in this part of its national life, take the condition 
that has existed for more than twenty-five years 
in my own state of Kansas. In what is known 
as District 14 in Southeastern Kansas there is a 
very rich and valuable deposit of soft coal. Into 
that district came about thirty years ago, men 
and women from Southern Europe. They did 
not know the American language or customs. 
They were muscle for money, and money seized 
them like so many shovels. They became 100 per 
cent unionized. From the first they antagonized 
the operators. And the operators on their side, 
by their own confession, did little or nothing to 
help make the physical or normal life of these 
“shovels” any better. Hundreds of strikes oc¬ 
curred inside the quarter of a century. Hous¬ 
ing conditions were miserable and inexcusable. 
Contracts were repeatedly broken. And a spirit 
of suspicion and hate and distrust grew into the 
community. One day I went down into District 
No. 14 and spent several days there talking with 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 99 

operators and miners. And I came away with 
just one opinion. The trouble was all summed up 
in one sentence: Absence of good will on both 
sides. I asked one operator who had a picture 
of a $110,000 steam shovel on his office wall, big¬ 
ger than any used on the Panama Canal: “Sup¬ 
pose that twenty-five years ago the operators 
and owners of these coal mines had treated these 
human shovels like human beings, suppose they 
had housed them decently, given them not only 
living but livable wages, had put up community 
houses for clean amusements and social life, had 
educated the children to be good Americans and 
had gone at the whole thing not on the basis of 
making money, but on the basis of getting Jeho¬ 
vah’s coal out of the earth in a kindly and broth¬ 
erly spirit—suppose all this, which is certainly 
within the region of practical action, do you 
think you would ever have had all this turmoil, 
and hate, and ill-will, and loss of labor and wealth 
that has characterized this part of Kansas for 
twenty-five years ?” It was a straight question 
and the man answered it squarely. . He was a 
member of a church and had a conscience. His 
answer was just one emphatic word “No!” 



CHAPTER XXV 

REMEDY FOR INDUSTRIAL UNREST 

Our man in the last chapter summed up in 
that one word what is the matter with the entire 
industrial situation in America at this moment. 
If Mr. Gompers and Judge Gary would get to¬ 
gether as representatives of labor and capital, 
honestly and without any threshing over of the 
old straw of economics, and agree to settle the 
whole capital and labor question on the basis of 
mutual good-will as Jesus taught it, and the fol¬ 
lowers of each man would agree to the same 
method and work out the problem on that line 
and keep it up, the industrial problem would be 
solved. 

As it is, I confess for one my utter weariness 
when the professor in economics and social and 
political science rises to exploit his favorite 
theory of the industrial tangle. It is not an eco¬ 
nomic question; it is purely ethical. Jesus was the 
greatest statesman on public questions affecting 
the welfare of society, and the only remedy He 
ever announced for a suffering world was the 
“Golden Rule.” 

The industrial situation in the coal mines is 
similar to that everywhere else where men are 
in opposing and warlike camps. A publishing 
firm was faced with a demand, not a request, 
for increased wages in a certain department of 
the business, and here brought the workers to¬ 
gether to discuss the matter in a spirit of friend- 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 101 

liness. The company opened the books and 
showed how with the friendly co-operation of 
the men a certain period of financial stress could 
be met, and pleaded with them to be willing to 
wait for better business returns. It was found 
on investigation that many of the men who were 
demanding higher pay were being paid for for¬ 
ty-eight hours while they worked only thirty-six. 
Also it came out in the discussion that these men 
would not lift a finger to save the company's 
property if they had to handle a tool which did 
not belong to their craft. And at the close of 
the conference the men walked out, with a result 
that they lost their places and seriously crippled 
a business by which many of them had made a 
very good living for many years. And this was 
not a question of livable wages, for the men were 
getting what they themselves conceded was a 
fair and livable wage. It was on a technicality. 
But the hinge on which it all turned was a total 
absence of good-will. The Golden Rule will not 
work, by the way, unless both sides work it. And 
that is what's the matter with America. 

Along with the industrial problem is the far¬ 
mer's problem. For there is one section of this 
country that has not gone out on a strike, but it 
would be of general interest if it should. Up to 
date, farmers, ministers, and undertakers are 
about the only useful members of society in 
America who have not struck. The undertakers 
could well go out on the slogan “for the green 
graves of their sires" and the ministers could 


102 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


strike for their “altars,” but the farmers would 
have to strike for their “God and their hard 
tilled land.” A letter from a farmer who has 
tilled the soil until he is tired out says: “Yester¬ 
day I skinned a calf and took the hide to the mar¬ 
ket ten miles away. The hide and fur store gave 
me two and one-half cents a pound for it, making 
42 cents. I went across the street to get my hair 
cut, and had to add 8 cents to the 42 to pay the 
barber, and it didn’t take him half as long to 
take my hair off as it took me to skin the calf, 
and I don’t have much hair to start with. 

When I got home I said to my wife, “Mary, 
what do you say to selling the old farm, buying 
an automobile, and moving into town where we 
can see the movies after we have read the Chris¬ 
tian Herald and enjoy ourselves looking at the 
colored comics in the Sunday supplements that 
picture the rubes out on the farm ? Mary threw 
the milk pail she was washing clear across the 
kitchen floor, and then she threw her arms 
around my neck; and if you know of a good 
buyer, please send him out here. Mary and I 
have got all we want out of the farm and the 
next man can have what’s left.” How would 
you answer a letter like that? God save Amer¬ 
ica, if the farmers should go out on a strike. Of 
course they won’t. But if they did, in about a 
month everyone would know what was the mat¬ 
ter with America, but it wouldn’t do any good, 
because all of us, including the undertaker and 
the minister, wouldn’t be here to write it up. And 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 103 

maybe that’s what’s the matter with America. 

The argument produced in the above clipping 
is a most conclusive proof that our system of 
education is wrong. If the schools, colleges and 
universities all along the line from 131 years ago 
to the present, could have laid down in their cur¬ 
riculum religious text books (commencing with 
the Bible) one for every course of study laid 
down for intellectual pursuit; so that all the fac¬ 
ulties of the soul might have been trained side 
by side and step by step with the training of the 
intellect, it is hardly probable that the reckless 
record of having spent of God’s gold and silver 
fifty-two billion dollars in war during a period 
of 131 years, would be staring us in the face to¬ 
day. Neither would we have to face the shame¬ 
ful record of spending annually the staggering 
sum of twenty-two billion dollars for what the 
government calls “luxuries or non-essentials.” 
One tenth of which, two billion and two hundred 
million really belongs to God as a tithe. 

P. S. Note 

The conclusion of Dr. Sheldon’s discussion of 
“What’s the Matter with America?” comes to 
me just too late to send it on down the line of 
ages in company with “The Home and Church 
Tithing System” to help perpetuate the ideas 
here advanced, and those by the^ Author in the 
above-named book under the caption of Symmet¬ 
rical Education.—The Author. 


ao4 home and church tithing 

APPENDIX 

How can the nations of the world be trained 
to honor God, by believing in His Son Jesus 
Christ, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, with con¬ 
secrated hearts and lives, giving what really be¬ 
longs to Him, one tenth of all their income? 

“For the time is come that judgment must be¬ 
gin at the house of God: And if it first begin at 
us, what shall the end be of them that obey not 
the Gospel of God ? 

And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where 
shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? I Pet. 
4.17-18.” 

If judgment must begin at us, the Lord's peo¬ 
ple, then honoring the Lord God, in obedience to 
His command, by believing on His Son Jesus 
Christ, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, with con¬ 
secrated hearts and lives, giving what really be¬ 
longs to Him, one tenth of all our income, surely 
ought to begin at the Sanctuary of the Lord, 
among His people. 

That bold defender of truth, William Jennings 
Bryan, in his new book “In His Image,” just is¬ 
sued, has immortalized himself, in the philipics 
hurled against evolution and Darwinism. Mr. 
Bryan claims “that the teaching of these doc¬ 
trines is rapidly undermining religion, and turn¬ 
ing American school and college pupils to agnos¬ 
ticism, and that its teachings will abolish be¬ 
lief in the Bible, and reduce it to a scrap of 
paper, relegating Christ to the stature of a man 


105 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

whose ancestry was not divine, but traceable 
along the line of evolution.” I believe that this 
doctrine will rob the world of a Creator, Re¬ 
deemer and Holy Comforter. It will be remem¬ 
bered that an indictment against the Christian 
world has been written in this text book, for hav¬ 
ing the wrong system of education, a system that 
has but little regard for anything save intellec¬ 
tual culture, leaving all the faculties of the soul 
dormant, and undeveloped. I believe that this 
one-sided system has opened the door for the in¬ 
fidelity arising from the study of evolution, Dar¬ 
winism, or any other ism the “devil” may con¬ 
jure up for the study and training of the intel¬ 
lect. This is the only legal system supported by 
the nations of the world, and endorsed by the 
Church, that we know of; and it has been in 
vogue from the earliest dawn of civilization. 

I believe that the origin of this one-sided sys¬ 
tem, is the first sacrifice we made when we left 
heathenism. Instead of giving our hearts to 
God, and laying them upon the altar of repent¬ 
ance, and faith in God, through the promise of 
His Son Jesus Christ, that He would redeem and 
bring back to God; we simply gave our intellects, 
and laid them upon the altar of civilization; and 
from that day to the present, civilization has left 
no stone unturned, in the development of the in¬ 
tellect which represents the natural man. From 
the Bible, God's Lexicon for mankind, spiritual 
scientific text books, should have been written 
for heart culture, or the training of the spiritual 


106 HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 

man; in the same manner that civilization has 
prepared natural science, for the training of the 
intellect of natural man. Both the heart and 
intellect should receive the same care and cul¬ 
ture, and if there is any preference to be given 
the heart should receive it. For we are taught 
to “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of 
it are the issues of life. Prov. 4.23. These text 
books should alternate in all the schools, from 
the Kindergarten to the University, one lesson 
for the heart, and the next for the head or in¬ 
tellect. 

Doubtless, if Prof. Huxley, Darwin, Paine, In- 
gersoll and the whole catalogue of sceptics and 
infidels who were not only deceived themselves, 
but were the means of deceiving millions of other 
souls, could have had the above outlined symmet¬ 
rical system of training, the Christian world 
would not be in a terrific warfare today, against 
evolution, Darwinism and other phases of skep¬ 
ticism and infidelity. Unfortunately, the civil¬ 
ized world has been educated under the one-sided 
intellectual system, and the wonder is, that we 
have even a few educated minds, who are capa¬ 
ble of seeing that our system is wrong, and have 
enough heart-culture to compel them to use both 
voice and pen to condemn the present popular 
system of educating the head and ignoring the 
heart, by leaving the Bible and religious text 
books out of the curriculum of our schools. Only 
the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit, 
through what little training we have received 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 107 

from the Bible in the home, Sunday school and 
Church, that gave us faith in God, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ; and this has saved us, from 
securing a ticket on some of the railroads, auto¬ 
mobiles, and flying machines of Huxley, Darwin, 
Thos. Paine, Ingersoll and a host of others of 
their kind. 

It is the object of this little text book to point 
out the course that will lead to the salvation, not 
only of the American school and college pupils, 
but the school and college pupils of the entire 
world of mankind, from the lamentable dangers 
pointed out by Mr. Bryan, “In His Image.” It is 
said that “Science is knowledge; and Art is the 
skill in using it.” “The Tithing Symmetrical Edu¬ 
cational System” claims that the Bible should be 
the Lexicon, for the educators of the Christian 
world and from the pages of which scientific re¬ 
ligious text books should be prepared for the 
training of all the faculties of the soul—Spiritual 
science for training the spiritual man; and natu¬ 
ral science for training the natural man. 

If the school and college pupils of the world 
are to be saved from the dangers of evolution, 
Darwinism and other phases of infidelity; then 
the nations of the world must be trained to honor 
God, by believing in His Son Jesus Christ, and 
the gift of the Holy Ghost, with consecrated 
hearts and lives, giving what really belongs to 
Him, one tenth of all their income. To accom¬ 
plish this, let the highest authority in all relig¬ 
ious denominations, Priests, Bishops, Elders, 


108 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


Deacons, Moderators, Pastors and officials, set 
the example of obedience and loyalty, before the 
remaining portion of the laity, in consecrated 
lives among the people, giving one tenth of their 
income, advocating the same throughout the 
churches over which they preside, and the mem¬ 
bers and congregations will surely fall in line 
and march to the music. 

Then let all Christian nations, Presidents, 
Kings, and other Rulers, with their Cabinets, 
Congresses, Prime-ministers and Parliaments, 
in obedience honor God by giving consecrated 
hearts and lives, and one tenth of all their own 
income, and let them advocate the same through¬ 
out their respective nations, as a foundation, 
upon which to establish a “Tithing Symmetrical 
Education System,” as previously outlined in 
these pages. Then such wars as have shattered 
the nations and staggered the world will cease; 
unrest, strikes, race prejudice, lynchings and the 
like evils will no more disgrace the fair name of 
Christian civilization; the Fatherhood of God 
and brotherhood of man will be acknowledged 
everywhere, and the heathen world will say, “see 
how those Christians lovehence they will be¬ 
come civilized, educated, evangelized and Chris¬ 
tianized, for God hath promised them to us for 
our inheritance and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for our possession. And men will be say¬ 
ing everywhere, “Behold how good and how 
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


109 - 


head, that ran down upon the beard, even 
Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of 
his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the 
dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: 
for there the Lord commanded a blessing, even 
life forevermore. 133rd Psalm.” 

SYMMETRICAL EDUCATIONAL FEDERATION TO BE 

CALLED 

Let any one of the leading Christian denominations call a fed¬ 
eration of believers, representing every persuasion of Chris¬ 
tianity, to consider the vital necessity of a standard SYMME¬ 
TRICAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM for training the human 
family, so that all the faculties of the “living soul” shall receive 
the same educational care and training. That the curriculum of 
all schools controlled by believers in Christianity, be so arranged,, 
from the Kindergarten to the University, (commencing with the 
Bible, and followed by other religious text-books, prepared from 
the study of nature founded upon the Word of God, revealed to> 
us in the Bible) that the studies in each class alternate as fol¬ 
lows: One lesson for the heart, and the next for the head or one 
for the soul and the next for the intellect. 

Man, a compound being, should be symmetrically educated. 
For the Apostle says: “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a 
spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual 
body.” Cor. 15:44. The head or intellect represents the natural 
body; while the heart or soul represents the spiritual body. It 
takes both of these bodies to represent man. 

In Philosophy: The scholastics or scholars, following Aris¬ 
totle, claim the word, “soul” means the primary principle of life; 
and that a plant is endowed with a vegetable soul, that brutes 
and man have in addition a sensitive soul, while man alone has 
a rational and immaterial soul. If this be true, it is evident, that 
the Creator lifts or elevates the animal kingdom a step higher 
than the vegetable, by distributing ingredients of sensation, 
(whatever that is), in the animal blood, or soul, which is the pri¬ 
mary principle of life. 

The same line of reasoning brings us to the conclusion that the 
human soul is a distinctly elevated and exalted act of God’s crea¬ 
tion, by containing the ingredients of rationality and immateri¬ 
ality; hence the necessity of having a system of education that 
will equally develop all the faculties of the “living soul.” Which 
one of the great religious families composed of believers of our 
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be the first to make the callt 


110 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


TESTIMONIALS 

THE CHRISTIAN HERALD BIBLE HOUSE 

New York City, June 23, 1922. 

Dear Mr. Gaskill: Your favors of May 29th addressed to Mr. 
Patterson and Dr. Sheldon have been referred to this department 
for consideration and reply. It is not customary to review a work 
from the manuscript before it is published. We therefore have 
had your manuscript read so as to offer you whatever advice we 
can. 

Our Editor states that yours is the best work on tithing that he 
has ever seen and he has had considerable experience. ***** 
He thinks that your entire manuscript should be gone over for 
little errors. There is no criticism of your construction, but 
there are typographical errors in your manuscript that should 
be corrected and the work sent out, without errors, to all pub¬ 
lishers of such a book for its first approval. 

Our Editor who has read the manuscript has none but praise 
for it, outside of technical errors. ***** You can see clearly, 
there is no use in reviewing your book in the Christian Herald 
as it is not ready for sale; there would be too much correspond¬ 
ence involved in questions, by people, why they could not get 
the book. When it is published, we shall be glad to review it. 

There is no objection to referring to Dr. Sandison’s opinion of 
your work as the best that has come before his attention on tith¬ 
ing. Yours very truly, 

THE CHRISTIAN HERALD. 

Book Department. 

The purpose of these lines is to state that I have read, with 
some degree of care, a book by Rev. James T. Gaskill, Kinston, 
N. C., entitled “The Home and Church Tithing.” It is a stimulat¬ 
ing and helpful study of this very important subject, and, to those 
who will practice this method of Christian stewardship, it will be 
found valuable from the standpoint both of economics and reli¬ 
gion. C. L. READ, 

Pastor Queen St. M. .E. Church, South. 

Kinston, N. C., June 2, 1922. 

“The Home and Church Tithing,” by Rev. James T. Gaskill, is 
of great value in teaching Christian stewardship and a much 
needed system of education. The book is carefully prepared and 
the thoughts clearly presented. The most critical mind may 
study the book with profit. With its standards adopted by the 
masses our industrial and religious life would be transformed 
for real consecrated service. 

H. N. McDIARMID, 

Pastor First Presbyterian Church. 


HOME AND CHURCH TITHING 


111 


_ _ _ Kinston, N. C., June 5, 1922. 

The Rev. James T. Gaskill: 

I have read your little book on “The Home and Church Tithing” 
with great interest and am struck with the sincerity and earnest¬ 
ness that speak from its pages. 

It is certainly true that one of the great needs of the day, is 
for truly “symmetrical education.” 

FRANCIS J. H. COFFIN, 

Rector St. Mary's P. E. Church. 


Rev. James T. Gaskill, 

Kinston, N. C. 

My dear Sir and Brother: 

I have read your book, “The Home and Church Tithing,” with 
interest. I agree with you that the real and crying necessity is 
for a more symmetrical education of the people. 

I hope this book will find a ready acceptance by all and that it 
will do much good in instructing them in the “Things of right¬ 
eousness.” Yours sincerely, 

LEE McB. WHITE, 

Pastor First Baptist Church. 

“The Home and Church Tithing,” by the Rev. James T. Gas¬ 
kill, is a treatise presenting a most important Christian subject 
in an easy, persuasive flow of simple language that may be read 
and understood by any one. His interplacements of facts, quota¬ 
tions and reasoning present a pleasant ground upon which one 
delights to linger after entry, emerging, possibly, with a stronger 
conviction than he had before. If the clergy and ministers would 
take hold of the book and see to its general distribution among 
the people of all intelligences, I think a wonderful change would 
result in the financial system of all denominations. 

JAMES E. HOLDER, 

P. E. Clergyman, Kinston, N. C. 


June 17, 1922. 

I have carefully gone through the manuscript of the Rev. 
James T. Gaskill, “The Home and Church Tithing” system. 

It is a wonderful production. If it can be put in the schools 
and adopted as a text-book in the course of religious education, 
it will give us a different type of Christians for our next genera¬ 
tion; one which will honor God, and help Jesus Christ save the 
world, through its financial contribution to Christianity, and its 
loyalty to Jesus Christ. 

* * J. FRANCIS LEE. 














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